Investing.com - The U.S. dollar eased back from four-year highs against the Canadian dollar on Monday, as the greenback’s recent strong gains prompted investors to take profits, but the downbeat outlook for the Canadian economy held losses in check.
USD/CAD was down 0.14% to lows of 1.0876, off session highs of 1.0930. On Friday, the pair rose to highs of 1.0944, the strongest level since October 2009.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0836, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.0930.
The Canadian dollar fell sharply on Friday, after an unexpectedly weak Canadian jobs report for December reinforced expectations that the Bank of Canada would stick to its dovish stance on interest rates for longer.
Statistics Canada said the economy shed 45,900 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 7.2%, rising above the U.S. unemployment rate for the first time since September 2008.
The surprisingly weak data overshadowed Friday’s soft U.S. nonfarm report for December.
The U.S. economy added 74,000 jobs last month, the smallest increase since January 2011 and well below expectations for 196,000 new jobs.
The report raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will adopt a more cautious approach to scaling back its stimulus program, after cutting it by USD10 billion in December, reducing it to USD75 billion-a-month.
Elsewhere, the loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, regained ground against the euro, with EUR/CAD slipping 0.23% to 1.4853, not far from the three-year high of 1.4950 struck on Friday.