Investing.com - The U.S. dollar dropped to two-week lows against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, despite upbeat U.S. jobless claims data as the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision weighed broadly on the greenback, while rising oil prices supported the Canadian currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3001 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since September 9; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3011, declining 0.68%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2905, the low of September 9 and resistance at 1.3115, the high of September 2.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending September 17 decreased by 8,000 to 252,000 from the previous week’s total of 260,000. This was its lowest level since July.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 262,000 last week.
But the greenback remained under pressure after the Fed left interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday.
In addition, the Fed cut the number of rate increases it expects this year to one from two and projected a less aggressive rise in interest rates next year and in 2018.
However, the U.S. central bank signaled that it could tighten monetary policy before the end of the year if the job market continued to improve.
Meanwhile, the commodity-related Canadian dollar was boosted by a rebound in oil prices on Thursday, after data showed U.S. crude supplies fell for the third week in a row.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD shedding 0.22% to 1.4627.