Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged higher against its Canadian counterpart in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, as growing expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to lend broad support to the greenback.
Markets in the U.S. were to remain closed on Monday for the Columbus Day holiday, while Canadian markets were also to remain shut in celebration of Thanksgiving Day.
USD/CAD was up 0.14% at 1.2546 by 9:30 a.m. ET (13:30 GMT), not far from Friday's one-month peak of 1.2599.
The greenback remained supported as the wage data from Friday's U.S. jobs report was seen as potentially boosting inflation.
The U.S. economy lost 33,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department reported, ending seven straight years of job growth. But the decline was driven by slower hiring due to the effects of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, the lowest since 2001 and average hourly earnings rose 2.9% from a year earlier.
The uptick in wage inflation bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in December.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD adding 0.16% to 1.4720.