Investing.com - The U.S. dollar pared losses against its Canadian counterpart on Tuesday, as oil prices declined after a series of terrorist attacks in Brussels, dampening demand for the commodity-related Canadian currency.
USD/CAD eased off 1.3054, the session low, to hit 1.3079 during early U.S. trade, still down 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2992, Monday’s low and resistance at 1.3308, the high of March 14.
Oil prices turned lower after at least 26 people were killed in a series of explosions in Brussels on Tuesday morning, with two blasts at the airport and another at a metro station in the heart of the EU quarter an hour later.
Crude was also hit after OPEC member Libya said it does not plan to attend an April 17 oil producer meeting about freezing production to support prices because it wants to increase output when the situation allows.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD sliding 0.33% to 1.4677.
In the euro zone, the ZEW Centre for Economic Research earlier said that its index of German economic sentiment rose to 4.3 this month from February’s reading of 1.0. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 5.0 in March.
However, the index of euro zone economic sentiment dropped to a 15-month low of 10.6 in March from 13.6 a month earlier, settling above forecasts for a reading of 8.2.
Separately, the German research institute Ifo said its Business Climate Index rose to 106.7 this month from a reading of 105.7 in February, above forecasts for 106.0.
Meanwhile, research group Markit said that its Flash Euro Zone Composite Output Index, which measures the combined output of both the manufacturing and service sectors rose from 53.0 in February to 53.7 in March, above forecasts for 53.0.
Markit earlier said that its German manufacturing PMI ticked down to 50.4 in March from 50.5 the previous month, while the services PMI rose to 55.5 this month from 55.3 in February.
In France, the manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 in March from 50.2 the previous month, while the services PMI rose to 51.2 from 49.2.