The Canadian jobs report for March was released today at 1:30 pm BST. Report release was brought a day forward as Canada will be observing Good Friday tomorrow. Data turned out to be a huge positive surprise. Employment change turned out ot be much higher-than-expected with both full-time and part-time jobs showing decent increases. As a result, the unemployment rate avoided an expected uptick to 5.1% and stayed unchanged at 5.0% instead.

Canada, jobs report for March

• Employment change: +34.7k vs +12.9k expected (+21.8k previously)
• Unemployment rate: 5.0% vs 5.1% expected (5.0% previously)
• Full-time employment: +18.8k vs +31.1k previously
• Part-time employment: +15.9k vs -9.3k previously

USDCAD climbed to the short-term resistance zone near 1.3490 prior to the release. However, the pair pulled back following better-than-expected data. A support zone near 1.3460 handle, marked with previous price reactions as well as the lower limit of the upward channel. However, bulls managed to defend the area and erased the majority of the drop in the first minutes following the release.

USDCAD at 30-minute interval. Source: xStation5