Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, as higher oil prices overshadowed a disappointing report on Canadian building permits.
USD/CAD hit 1.3451 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3429.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3377, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 1.3487, the high of March 15.
The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims decreased by 25,000 to 234,000 in the week ending April 1 from the previous week’s revised total of 259,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 8,000 to 250,000 last week.
The greenback had weakened after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting indicated that the central bank would likely begin trimming its $4.5 trillion balance sheet of Treasury and mortgage securities later this year.
While the unwinding had been anticipated by markets, the timing of the move had not been clear.
Meanwhile, investors remained cautious ahead of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later Thursday, which will include discussions on U.S.-China trade and security issues, including North Korea’s arms program.
Trump has repeatedly criticized China's economic policies and pledged to label China a currency manipulator on the first day of his administration, but so far he has not.
In Canada, official data showed that building permits declined 2.5% in February after an increase of 5.8% in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 5.4% gain.
But the commodity-related Canadian dollar remained supported by rising oil prices on Thursday, as the market weighed rising U.S. drilling and record stockpiles against efforts by major producers to cut output to reduce a global glut.
The euro was steady against the Canadian dollar, with EUR/CAD at 1.4315.