Investing.com - The broadly weaker U.S. dollar fell to four-day lows against the Canadian dollar on Thursday as the euro’s strong gains against the dollar pressured the greenback lower across the board.
USD/CAD hit 1.1055, the lowest since March 7 and was last down 0.50% to 1.1062.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1025 and resistance at 1.1121, the session high.
The euro rose to two-and-a-half year highs against the dollar on Thursday, amid expectations that the European Central Bank will refrain from further easing, after the bank left monetary policy unchanged last week, despite forecasting low inflation for some years to come.
The outlook for the U.S. economic recovery was boosted following the release of stronger-than-expected data on U.S. retail sales and initial jobless claims.
The Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% in February, ending two months of declines. Market expectations had been for an increase of 0.2%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, also rose 0.2% last month, ahead of expectations for a 0.3% rise.
Separately, the Department of Labor said the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell by 9,000 to a three month low of 315,000 last week, from the previous week’s revised total of 324,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 6,000 last week.
But overall market sentiment remained subdued after weaker-than-expected data from China pointed to a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy at the start of the year.
Chinese industrial production rose 8.6% in the first two months of 2014, according to data released on Thursday, missing market expectations for an increase of 9.5%, while Chinese retail sales rose by a smaller than forecast 11.8% in the same period.
Market sentiment was also hit by heightened tensions between Russia and the West ahead of Sunday's referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea region, now controlled by pro-Russian forces, on whether citizens want to join Russia.
Elsewhere, the loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, was trading close to four year lows against the euro, with EUR/CAD edging down 0.12% to 1.5438, not far from Wednesday’s peaks of 1.5500.