TORONTO - The loonie was back above the U.S. dollar early Tuesday as commodity prices moved higher and optimism lingered from a positive U.S. jobs report last week.
The Canadian dollar was at 100.27 cents US, up 0.46 of a cent from Friday's close before a long holiday weekend.
Data on U.S. employment surprised observers last week. The U.S. economy generated 163,000 jobs last month, better than the 100,000 gain that was projected. But the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 per cent, up 0.1 per cent.
"The slightly-improved tone in financial markets, modestly better U.S. economic data and firmer oil prices have helped to both strengthen the Canadian dollar and wring out expectations of a possible rate cut by the Bank of Canada," said Mark Chandler, head of Canadian FIC strategy at RBC Capital Markets in a note.
In commodities, the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lifted 35 cents to US$92.55 a barrel.
September copper moved up nearly five cents to US$3.3439 a pound while December gold rose 90 cents to US$1,617.10 an ounce.
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