Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged lower against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, as upbeat Canadian trade balance data lent support the local currency, while positive reports on U.S. jobless claims and trade did little to boost demand for the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.2586 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2595, falling 0.21%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2462, the low of March 27 and resistance at 1.2784, the high of March 31.
Statistics Canada reported that the country's trade deficit narrowed to C$0.98 billion in February from C$1.48 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$2.45 billion.
Analysts had expected Canada's trade deficit to hit C$1.80 billion in February.
In the U.S., the Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 28 declined by 20,000 to 268,000 from the previous week’s total of 288,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 285,000 last week.
Separately, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $34.44 billion in February from $42.68 billion in January, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of $41.8 billion.
Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $41.2 billion in February.
But investors shrugged off the upbeat data as they were focusing on the highly anticipated U.S. jobs report due out on Friday, which was expected to support expectations for higher interest rates.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD climbing 0.77% to 1.3687.
The euro's gains were held in check however, as a deadlock over the Greek government’s reform plans continued.
Athens will run out of cash later this month unless it can reach a compromise with its creditors on a program of economic reforms in time to unlock more bailout funds.