The Canadian loonie shed nearly half a cent following a poor jobs report, while Canada’s main stock index shrugged off the disappointing employment figures.
The Canadian dollar traded at US75.44¢, down from an average of 75.91¢ on Thursday, after Statistics Canada said the economy lost 71,200 jobs in November for the biggest monthly drop since the financial crisis. The job losses pushed the unemployment rate up 0.4 of a percentage point to 5.9%.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 142.05 points to 16,996.97.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average advanced 337.27 points to 28,015.06. The S&P 500 index rose by 28.48 points to 3,145.91, while the Nasdaq composite gained 85.83 points to 8,656.53.
The January crude oil contract gained 77¢ to US$59.20 per barrel and the January natural gas contract shed 9.3¢ to US$2.33 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract plummeted US$18.00 to US$1,465.10 an ounce and the March copper contract was advanced 6.2¢ to roughly US$2.73 a pound.