Investing.com - The U.S. dollar moved lower against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, despite positive U.S. jobless claims data, as higher oil prices and better than expected Canadian data lent support to the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3224 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since February 28; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3234, edging down 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3162, the low of February 28 and resistance at 1.3341, Wednesday’s high.
The U.S. Labor Department said that initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 234,000 for the week ended April 8 from the prior week's revised 235,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise to 245,000 last week.
But the greenback remained under pressure after U.S. President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the dollar "is getting too strong" and that he would prefer the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low.
Markets were also jittery after President Trump said the United States' relationship with Moscow "may be at an all-time low."
Trump's comments came after he ordered a missile attack on Syria to punish the government’s suspected use of poison gas. Russia condemned the U.S. action.
Meanwhile, the commodity-related Canadian dollar was boosted by rising oil prices on Thursday, after an International Energy Agency report said the market was close to balance.
Separately, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales slipped 0.2% in February, compared to expectations for a 0.7% decline.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD declining 0.50% to 1.4062.