Investing.com - The U.S. dollar held steady against its Canadian counterpart on Tuesday, after the release of mixed U.S. housing data and an upbeat report on Canadian foreign securities purchases, as markets turned to the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy statement on Wednesday.
USD/CAD hit 1.2347 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2331.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2273, the low of June 12 and resistance at 1.2443, the high of June 9.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported that the number of building permits issued last month increased by 11.8% to 1.275 million units from April’s total of 1.140 million. Analysts expected building permits to fall by 3.5% to 1.100 million units in May.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts plunged by 11.1% in May to hit 1.036 million units from April’s total of 1.165 million units, worse than expectations for a decline of 3.1% to 1.100 million.
Market participants were looking ahead to the outcome of the Fed's latest policy meeting on Wednesday for a clear signal on when it could start to raise interest rates.
In Canada, data showed that foreign securities purchases rose by C$12.94 billion in April, blowing past expectations for a C$4.97 billion rise. March's figure was revised to an increase of C$22.56 billion from a previously estimated gain of C$22.47 billion.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD sliding 0.37% to 1.3854.
Sentiment on the euro remained vulnerable after talks between Greece and European officials ended without an agreement on a cash-for-reforms deal over the weekend, fueling fears over a debt default that would threaten Greece’s future in the euro zone.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told opposition leaders on Tuesday that Greece will not pay the International Monetary Fund on June 30 if a deal with creditors is not reached.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said earlier Tuesday that he was not planning to present new reform proposals at a meeting of the eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers due to be held on Thursday.
Also Tuesday, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research said that its index of German economic sentiment tumbled by 10.4 points to 31.5 this month from May’s reading of 41.9. Analysts had expected the index to drop by 4.8 points to 37.1 in June.