Investing.com - The U.S. dollar pared gains against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after mixed U.S. economic reports and after data showed that Canada's new house prices rose in line with expectations in April.
USD/CAD pulled away from 1.2353, the pair's highest since June 9, to hit 1.2230 during early U.S. trade, still up 0.36%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2199, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.2443, the high of June 9.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending June 6 increased by 2,000 to 279,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 277,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to remain unchanged at 277,000 last week.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales increased by 1.2% last month, beating expectations for a gain of 1.1%. Retail sales rose by 0.2% in April, whose figure was revised up from a previously reported flat reading.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose by 1.0% in May, compared to forecasts for a 0.7% increase. Core sales in April increased 0.1%.
At the same time, Statistics Canada reported that its new house price index rose 0.1% in April, in line with expectations and after a flat reading the previous month.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD dropping 0.53% to 1.3805.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile as uncertainty over Greece continued, although hopes for an agreement on a cash-for-reforms deal lent some support.
On Wednesday German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had agreed to work "intensively" with the country’s creditors in order to avoid default at the end of the month.
Greece’s bailout agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund is set to expire at the end of this month and it cannot make further debt repayments without a new deal.