Investing.com - The U.S. dollar climbed against its Canadian counterpart on Tuesday, after equally disappointing trade reports from the U.S. and Canada, as declining oil prices weighed on the Canadian currency and investors eyed the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.
USD/CAD hit 1.3208 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since March 29; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3183, advancing 0.74%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3003, Monday’s low and resistance at 1.3286, the high of March 28.
The U.S. Commerce Department said the trade deficit widened to $47.06 billion in Februray from $45.88 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of $45.7 billion. Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to widen to $46.2 billion in February.
The greenback also remained under pressure as last Friday’s strong U.S. jobs report did little to alter the view that the Fed will stick to a cautious approach on rate hikes.
Meanwhile, data showed that Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$1.91 billion in February from C$0.63 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$0.66 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to C$0.90 billion in February.
The commodity-related Canadian dollar also weakened as oil prices fell for a third straight session, hitting one-month lows.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD climbing 0.54% to 1.4988.
Data earlier showed that service sector activity in the euro zone edged lower in March.
The services purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 53.1 for March from 53.3 in February and lower than the preliminary estimate of 54.0.