TORONTO _ The Canadian dollar advanced Thursday as markets await the arrival of revised jobs data for July.
The loonie gained 0.21 of a cent to 91.81 cents US, a day before Statistics Canada releases the data. The agency said earlier this week that there was an error in the jobs data originally released last Friday.
Statistics Canada will also release the June reading on manufacturing shipments on Friday.
Meanwhile, there was grim news from the eurozone as Germany's economy, the region's biggest, shrank by a quarterly rate of 0.2 per cent, held back by weaker investment by business and by fears over the crisis in Ukraine.
France, the region's second largest economy, showed zero growth for the second straight quarter. Third-ranked Italy shrank.
Ukraine fears have only grown since the end of the quarter on June 30, particularly after a Malaysian airliner was shot down in mid-July by a missile from territory held by pro-Russian separatists, according to the U.S. and Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a large Russian aid convoy resumed its journey toward Ukraine Thursday, taking a road leading directly toward a border crossing controlled by pro-Russian rebels.
Moscow has insisted it co-ordinated the dispatch of the goods with the international Red Cross. But the Red Cross is unable to confirm where the convoy is headed.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Moscow of possibly planning a ``direct invasion of Ukrainian territory under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid.''
On the commodity markets, September crude in New York declined 12 cents to US$97.47 a barrel.
September copper was unchanged at US$3.11 a pound, while December gold was $2.60 higher to US$1,317.10 an ounce.