Investing.com - The U.S. dollar dropped to four-month lows against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, after the monthly U.S. nonfarm payrolls report missed expectations and as much more upbeat jobs data from Canada boosted the local currency.
USD/CAD was down 0.83% at 1.2385 by 09:30 a.m. ET (13:30 GMT), the lowest since September.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Friday that the economy added 148,000 jobs in December, disappointing expectations for an increase of 185,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, as expected.
The report also showed that U.S. average hourly earnings rose 0.3% last month, in line with projections.
At the same time, Statistics Canada reported that the number of employed people climbed 78,600 in December, blowing past expectations for a 1,000 rise.
Canada's unemployment rate ticked down to 5.7% in December from 5.9% the previous month, confounding expectations for a rise to 6.0%.
On a less positive note, data also showed that Canada's trade deficit widened to C$2.54 billion in November from C$1.55 billion in October, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$1.47 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to C$1.20 billion in November.
The loonie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD down 1.14% at 1.4897.