NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar gained against the greenback on Monday as investors focused on whether the United States will implement new tariffs on China this weekend, but the loonie pared only half of the losses sustained on Friday after data showed a slump in domestic jobs.
The loonie’s move on Monday likely resulted from broader risk appetite rather than news particular to Canada, said Bipan Rai, North American head of FX strategy at CIBC Capital Markets in Toronto.
“It doesn’t appear like it's any endogenous story to Canada itself,” Rai said.
Investors were likely closing positions on uncertainty that the United States and China will reach a trade deal that will stop a new round of tariffs against Chinese goods from taking effect on Dec. 15.
“When it comes to broad risk this week it’s all about the December 15 tariffs and if they go into place next Sunday,” Rai said.
The Canadian dollar tumbled to 1.3269 to the U.S. dollar, or 75.35 cents U.S, after the jobs report.
It retraced some of these losses to trade at 1.3232, or 75.56 cents, on Monday.
The Canadian job market lost 71,200 net positions in November while the unemployment rate rose to 5.9%, the highest in more than a year, data from Statistics Canada showed. Analysts had forecast a gain of 10,000 jobs.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is due to speak on Thursday. He is expected to maintain that the central bank’s rate path will be dependent on data going forward.
Data on Monday painted a disappointing picture of Canadian housing.
Statistics Canada said that the value of Canadian building permits fell by 1.5% in October from September. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected an increase of 3.0%.
Canadian government bond prices fell with the two-year price down 1 Canadian cent to yield 1.66% and the benchmark 10-year falling 4 Canadian cents to yield 1.584%.
(Reporting by Karen Brettell; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Steve Orlofsky)
