Investing.com - The U.S. dollar dropped against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after the release of disappointing U.S. jobless claims data and as rising oil prices lent support to the commodity-related Canadian currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3102 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3102, retreating 0.49%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3072, the low of February 20 and resistance at 1.3211, Wednesday’s high.
The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims increased by 6,000 to 244,000 in the week ending February 18 from the previous week’s revised total of 238,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 241,000 last week.
Late Wednesday, the minutes of the Fed’s January policy meeting showed that policymakers thought it may be appropriate to raise interest rates again "fairly soon."
However, the minutes also revealed the central bank’s uncertainty over the lack of clarity of the Trump administration's economic program, which limited the greenback’s gains.
The minutes came after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said last week that a rate increase would be appropriate at one of the Fed’s forthcoming meetings.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar was boosted by a surge in oil prices to seven-week highs on Thursday, after data overnight showed a surprise drop in U.S. crude supplies
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD shedding 0.32% to 1.3853.