Canada's Dollar Little Changed on Unexpected Addition of Jobs

By Chris Fournier

Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar was little changed after a government report before the release of U.S. payroll data showed the country unexpectedly added jobs in October.

``On balance you would think it would be Canada-positive, but the market isn't really moving much,'' said Adam Cole, head of global currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets in London. ``We're just kind of paralyzed ahead of the U.S. payroll numbers. Nothing is moving ahead of that.''

The Canadian dollar traded at C$1.1975 per U.S. dollar at 7:19 a.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.1980 yesterday. One Canadian dollar buys 83.51 U.S. cents.

The economy added 9,500 jobs last month after a gain of 106,900 positions in September, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The median forecast of 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a decrease of 10,000 in October. Canada's unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent.

The Bank of Canada cut borrowing costs six times in the past 12 months, lowering its overnight rate to 2.25 percent from 4.5 percent. Policy makers next meet Dec. 9.

The U.S. jobless rate climbed to a five-year high of 6.3 percent in October, according to the median forecast of 77 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The payroll report from the Labor Department is due at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Montreal at cfournier3@bloomberg.net