Investing.com - The U.S. dollar declined against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after mixed U.S. economic report, although disappointing Canadian home sales data limited the local currency's gains.
USD/CAD hit 1.2619 during early U.S. trade, the pair's lowest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2645, dropping 0.80%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2570, the low of March 9 and resistance at 1.2798, Wednesday's high and a six-year high.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 7 decreased by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 289,000 from the previous week’s total of 325,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 20,000 to 305,000 last week.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales declined 0.6% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 0.3%. Retail sales fell by 0.8% in January.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, slumped by 0.1% in February, compared to forecasts for a 0.5% increase. Core sales in January dropped 1.1%, downwardly revised from a previously reported fall of 0.9%.
In Canada, official data showed that new house prices slipped 0.1% in January, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise, after a 0.1% uptick the previous month.
The loonie was steady against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.3447.