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Canadian dollars.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

The Canadian dollar closed lower Friday amid data showing economic growth stalled in Canada during September.

The loonie dropped 0.09 of a cent to $1.0064 (U.S.) as Statistics Canada reported there was no growth in gross domestic product during September following a 0.1 per cent dip during August.

That translated into third-quarter economic growth of 0.6 per cent on an annualized basis, against expectations of 0.8 per cent growth.

The agency said the disappointing performance reflected exports that fell 2 per cent in the third quarter, the largest decline since the second quarter of 2009.

Elsewhere on the economic front, Americans cut back on spending last month and saw no growth in their income, reflecting disruptions from superstorm Sandy.

The U.S. Commerce Department says consumer spending dropped 0.2 per cent in October, down from an increase of 0.8 per cent in September and the weakest showing since May. Income was flat in the month following a 0.4 per cent rise in September.

Another report shows the euro zone's unemployment rate is at a record high.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, says the recession in the euro zone pushed unemployment in the currency bloc up to 11.7 per cent in October.

The rise from the previous record of 11.6 per cent in September was anticipated in light of the euro zone's return to recession in the third quarter. That is commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Traders also looked for further word on how negotiations are progressing in heading off a U.S. fiscal cliff at the end of the year. That's the term given to the situation that would arise from the automatic imposition of steep spending cuts and significant tax increases.

Economists believe that those cuts and increases would take a big bite out of economic growth and likely send the U.S. economy back into recession.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that negotiations to surmount the impasse are going "almost nowhere."

President Barack Obama took his case to an audience in a Philadelphia suburb, saying Republicans should extend existing Bush-era tax rates for households earning $250,000 or less, while allowing increases to kick in for the wealthy.

His comment came a day after his administration proposed $1.6-trillion in new taxes over 10 years and savings of about $400-billion in entitlement programs like Medicare. Republicans rejected the offer as unreasonable.

Commodity prices were mixed with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 84 cents to $88.91 a barrel.

February bullion was off $16.80 to $1,712.70 while March copper was up 4 cents at $3.65 a pound.

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