Investing.com - The U.S. dollar pared losses against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, as the release of upbeat U.S. economic reports lent broad support to the greenback.
USD/CAD eased off 1.3187, the session low, to hit 1.3261 during early U.S. trade, still down 0.24%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3143, Tuesday's low and resistance at 1.3355, Tuesday's high and an 11-year high.
The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.7% in the three months ending June 30, above expectations for growth of 3.2%.
Preliminary data initially pegged U.S. growth at 2.3% in the second quarter. The U.S. economy expanded 0.6% in the previous quarter.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 22 declined by 6,000 to 271,000 from the previous week’s total of 277,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 274,000 last week.
The data came a day after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said Wednesday that the case for a September rate hike was “less compelling”, given the threat posed to the U.S. economy from recent turmoil in markets.
Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments in China. Shares in Shanghai rallied around 5% by the close of trading on Thursday, snapping six days of heavy losses.
Recent steep declines in Chinese equity markets have sparked fears that they will hasten an economic downturn and undermined investor confidence in the government’s ability to revitalize economic growth.
The commodity-linked Canadian dollar received support from rising oil prices. Crude oil futures for October delivery jumped 3.21% to $39.84 in early U.S. trade.
The loonie was shaprly higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD retreating 0.95% to 1.4897.