Investing.com - The U.S. dollar slipped lower against the Canadian dollar on Monday, backing off Friday’s almost three month highs as concerns over geopolitical tensions eased, dampening safe haven demand.
USD/CAD was down 0.19% to 1.0951, off Friday’s highs of 1.0983.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0908, Friday’s low and resistance at 1.0985.
Investor sentiment was boosted on Monday following reports Russia ended military exercises it was holding close to the border with Ukraine, but investors were continuing to monitor developments in the region closely.
News of a fresh 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza which came into effect on Sunday also eased concerns over geopolitical instability in the Middle East.
The loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, received an additional boost after data released on Monday showed that domestic housing starts rose unexpectedly in July, pointing to underlying strength in the housing sector.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that the annual rate of housing starts rose to 200,100 units last month from June’s total of 198,700 units. Economists had expected housing starts to decline to an annual unit rate of 193,000.
The Canadian dollar ended Friday’s session lower against the greenback after data showed that the country’s economy added fewer than expected jobs in June.
Statistics Canada reported that the economy added just 200 jobs last month, falling well short of expectations for jobs growth of 20,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 7.0% from 7.1% in June.
Elsewhere Monday, the loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD down 0.34% to 1.4664.
Concerns over the diverging monetary policy stance between the European Central Bank and its major peers continued to pressure the single currency lower.