Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, helped by upbeat U.S. jobless data, although gains were capped as a strong Canadian building permits report lent support to the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3130 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3142, gaining 0.38%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2853, the low of March 31 and a five-month low and resistance at 1.3219, the high of April 5.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 2 decreased by 9,000 to 267,000 from the previous week’s total of 276,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 6,000 to 270,000 last week.
The data cama a day after the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting indicated that the central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates before June due to concerns over global economic growth.
The minutes showed that "a number" of policymakers believe that headwinds to growth will probably persist and that many urged caution about raising rates.
Also Thursday, Statistics Canada reported that building permits increased by 15.5% in February, blowing past expectations for a 4.8% rise. Building permits declined by 9.5% in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 9.8% drop.
The loonie was steady against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.4913.
In the euro zone, minutes from the European Central Bank’s March policy meeting on Thursday revealed that a “large majority” of members supported the unprecedented easing measures taken by the ECB last month.
Earlier in the day, ECB vice president Vitor Constancio said that Europe continued to face challenges and that the euro zone monetary authority will do whatever was needed to comply with its price stability mandate.