Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to one-week highs against the Canadian dollar on Monday as Friday’s dismal jobs report continued to weigh on Canada’s dollar, while upbeat employment data continued to boost the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.1131, the highest since February 28 and was last up 0.23% to 1.1111.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1085, the session low and resistance at 1.1160.
The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, remained under pressure after data on Friday showed that the country's economy unexpectedly eliminated jobs last month.
Canada’s economy shed 7,000 jobs last month, official data showed, confounding expectations for jobs growth of 15,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.0%.
The loonie found some support after data released on Monday showed that the annual rate of Canadian housing starts rose to 192,100 units last month from January’s total of 180,500 units.
Analysts had expected Canadian housing starts to increase to 185,000 units in February.
Demand for the greenback continued to be underpinned after the Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 175,000 jobs in February, well above expectations for 149,000 new jobs.
The jobs report eased concerns over soft U.S. employment and other economic data seen in the past few months. The strong figure indicated that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue to scale back its stimulus program, which has weighed on the value of the dollar.
Elsewhere, the loonie fell to more than four-year lows against the broadly stronger euro. EUR/CAD hit 1.5463, the highest level since mid-December 2009, and was last trading up 0.25% at 1.5418.
The euro was boosted by diminished expectations for further easing by the European Central Bank, after the bank refrained from tightening monetary policy last week.
The ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5% on Thursday, saying economic conditions did not support tightening, despite the low inflation outlook for the euro area.