Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged higher against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, easing off a nine-month low as declining oil prices and downbeat Canadian data weighed on demand for the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.2631 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2691, edging up 0.17%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2631, Wednesday’s low and a nine-month trough and resistance at 1.2901, the high of April 15.
The commodity-related Canadian dollar was under pressure as oil prices moved lower after a three-day oil worker strike in Kuwait, which had cut the country’s crude production nearly in half, ended late Tuesday.
The end of the strike revived concerns sparked by the failure of major oil producers to reach an agreement on Sunday on a production freeze.
In Canada, data on Wednesday showed that wholesale sales dropped by 2.2% in February, compared to expectations for a 0.3% downtick, after a 0.2% rise in January.
Market partiicipants were looking to a report on U.S. existing home sales due later in the day, after data on Tuesday showed that U.S. building permits fell unexpectedly by 7.7% in March to 1.086 million units, while housing starts declined by 8.8% to 1.089 million units.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD adding 0.14% to 1.4409.