TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was higher against the greenback Friday at midday amid surging oil prices and data showing the economic recovery in the United States, Canada's largest trading partner, continued to improve during March.
The loonie was up 0.64 cent at 103.78 cents US, its highest level since November, 2007.
Oil prices rose above US$107 a barrel Friday in Asia as investors worried that a prolonged civil conflict in Libya would keep the OPEC country's crude exports off the market longer than expected.
The May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 84 cents to US$107.56 a barrel.
Other commodities were weak as the May copper contract on the Nymex lost five cents to US$4.26 a pound and the June gold contract in New York lost $14 to US$1,425.90 an ounce.
On the economic front, the U.S. Labour Department reported that the economy created 216,000 jobs last month, which was slightly above expectations. The jobless rate edged down a tenth of a percentage point to 8.8 per cent.
Also, a key barometer of American manufacturing came in slightly better than expected. The Institute for Supply Management's index on the sector came in at 61.2 for March.
