The Pound to Canadian Dollar exchange rate managed to firm on Friday as disappointing jobs data out of Canada weighed upon the ‘Loonie’.
Earlier in the session the Pound was trading lower against all of its major peers as concerns over the September 18 Scottish Independence vote continued to weigh upon sentiment for the UK currency. Concerns are mounting that the outcome of the vote will be a lot closer than previously thought.
The Canadian Dollar weakened against the majority of its most traded peers after data showed that the number of jobs in the nation fell unexpectedly in August. The disappointing report supported the decision by the Central Bank of Canada to delay raising interest rates.
Against its US relation, the ‘Loonie’ eased for the first time in three days.
According to Statistics Canada, the economy lost 11,000 job positions last month, well below the 10,000 increase expected by some economists and was a sharp fall from the 41,700 jobs created in the preceding month.
A large drop of 111,000 private-sector workers was partially offset by an equally large jump of 87,000 in the ranks of the self-employed.
The latest jobs report comes after the statistics agency was forced to make a large revision to its July jobs numbers. That month saw a gain of 41,700 positions rather than the 200 jobs that the group had originally reported, a mistake it attributed to human error and a redesign of its survey.
The report also showed that Canada’s participation rate, which is the number of working-age people either working or looking for work, dropped in August to 66%, the lowest level recorded since November 2001. The August employment report also showed that 20,800 people dropped out of the labour force.
Employment in the wholesale and retail trade sector declined by 26,500, while the transportation and warehousing sector cut employment by 14,700. The financial services and real-estate component of the economy lost 13,500 employees.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained stable at 7% despite the losses.
Some economists are questioning the data however.
‘The rise in the number of self-employed and the 111,800 drop in private payrolls are both monthly records in figures stretching back to the survey’s inception in 1976. That is statistically possible I suppose, but it looks very fishy to me,’ said Scotiabank economists Dov Zieglar and Derek Holt in a note to customers.
Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate Forecast
Sterling is forecast to remain under pressure until September 18 as the vote on Scottish Independence looks set to go right to the wire. Depending on whether the NO campaign can claw back its earlier lead in the polls it looks like sentiment for the Pound will remain soft.
Canadian Dollar (CAD) Exchange Rates
[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Canadian Dollar,
,Pound Sterling,0.5627 ,
Canadian Dollar,,US Dollar,0.9188 ,
Canadian Dollar,,Euro,0.7084 ,
Canadian Dollar,,Australian Dollar,0.9784,
Canadian Dollar,,New Zealand Dollar,1.1020 ,
US Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,1.08878 ,
Pound Sterling,,Canadian Dollar,1.7778 ,
Euro,,Canadian Dollar,1.4120 ,
Australian Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,1.0217 ,
New Zealand Dollar,,Canadian Dollar,0.9072 ,
[/table]
