Investing.com - The U.S. dollar pared gains and pulled away from a seven-month high against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, as downbeat U.S. employment data weighed on demand for the greenback, while a strong jobs report from Canada boosted the local currency.
USD/CAD pulled back from 1.3296, the pair’s highest since March, to hit 1.3212 during early U.S. trade, steady for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3172, Thursday’s low and resistance at 1.3296, the session high.
The U.S. Labor Department said the economy added 156,000 jobs in September, compared to expectations for 175,000. The economy created 167,000 jobs in August, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 151,000.
The report also showed that the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.0% last month from 4.9% in August. Analysts had expected an unchanged reading for September.
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% in September, in line with expectations and after an uptick of 0.1% the previous month.
At the same time, Statistics Canada said the number of employed people increased by 67,200 in September, beating expectations for a 10,000 rise and after a 26,200 gain the previous month.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.0% last month, in line with expectations.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD up 0.23% at 1.4769.