Investing.com - The U.S. dollar held steady against its Canadian counterpart on Monday, hovering close to a six-year peak after the release of U.S. economic reports fuelled further uncertainty over the strength of the economy.
USD/CAD hit 1.2818 during early U.S. trade, the pair's highest since March 2009; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2774.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2617, the low of March 12 and resistance at 1.3063.
Data showed that U.S. industrial production increased 0.1% last month, below expectations for a gain of 0.2%. Industrial production for January was revised down to a decline of 0.3% from a previously reported increase of 0.2%.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, declined to 78.9% in February from 79.1% in January, compared to expectations for a reading of 79.5%.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its general business conditions index decreased to 6.9 this month from a reading of 7.8 in February. Analysts had expected the index to inch up to 8.0 in March.
In Canada, official data showed that foreign securities purchases rose by C$5.73 billion in January, exceeding expectations for an increase of C$3.74 billion. December's figure was revised to a C$13.54 billion drop from a previously estimated fall of C$13.55 billion.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD advancing 0.64% to 1.3510.