Investing.com - The U.S. dollar held steady near nine-month lows gainst its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after mixed U.S. economic reports dampened demand for the greenback, while rising oil prices and upbeat Canadian data lent support to the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.2782 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2814.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2743, Wednesday’s low and a nine-month low and resistance at 1,2920, Tuesday’s high.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 9 decreased by 13,000 to 253,000 from the previous week’s total of 266,000 which was revised down from 267,000.Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 270,000 last week.
A separate report showed that the U.S. consumer price index rose 0.1% in March, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% gain, after a 0.2% slip the previous month. Year-on-year, consumer prices rose 0.9% last month, confounding expectations for an increase of 1.0%.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1% in March, compared to expectations for a 0.2% increase and after a 0.3% gain the previous month.
The dollar had strengthened earlier, after data on Wednesday showing that Chinese exports rose for the first time in nine month in March eased concerns over a China-led slowdown in global growth.
In Canada, data showed that the new house price index rose 0.2% in February, compared to expectations for an uptick of 0.1% and after a 0.1% gain the previous month.
Separately, oil prices resumed an upward trend, erasing earlier losses, as investors looked ahead to a highly anticipated meeting between major oil producers in Doha next Sunday.
The loonie was little changed against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.4444.