Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged higher against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, re-approaching a five-year peak as markets were jittery amid concerns over political instability in Greece and new restrictions on China’s debt markets.
USD/CAD hit session highs of 1.1473 during early U.S. trade, before pulling back to 1.1463, up 0.17% for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1394, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.1724.
Investors remained cautious following a surprise decision by the Greek government to bring forward a parliamentary vote for president to next week from February.
Markets were hit by the risk of snap elections which could take place if Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ candidate is not approved by parliament, which could see the anti-bailout Syriza party take power.
The commodity-linked Canadian dollar also came under pressure after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forecast demand for the group's oil will drop to 28.92 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2015, down 280,000 bpd from its previous expectation and over 1 million bpd less than it is currently producing.
Meanwhile, demand for the greenback remained supported after last week’s strong U.S. jobs report for November prompted investors to bring forward expectations for the first hike in interest rates to mid-2015 from September 2015.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD rising 0.32% to 1.4203.