Investing.com - The U.S. dollar dropped to fresh five-month lows against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after data showed that Canada’s economy grew at a faster rate than expected in January, while downbeat U.S. jobless claims data weighed on the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.2887 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since October 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2916, declining 0.38%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2848, the low of October 16 and resistance at 1.3080, Wednesday’s high.
Statistics Canada reported on Thursday that the country’s gross domestic product rose 0.6% in January, exceeding expectations for an increase of 0.3%. Canada’s economy grew 0.2% the previous month.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 26 increased by 11,000 to 276,000 from the previous week’s total of 265,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to hold steady at 265,000 last week.
The greenback also remained under pressure after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said late Tuesday that global risks to the U.S. economy, including low oil prices and uncertainty over China justified taking a cautious approach to tightening monetary policy.
The loonie was steady against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.4705.
In the euro zone, data earlier showed that consumer prices fell 0.1% in March in line with forecasts, after falling 0.2% in February.