Investing.com - The U.S. dropped against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, re-approaching a nine-month trough as rising oil prices and upbeat Canadian data lent broad support the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.2642 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2656, declining 0.58%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2627, the low of April 19 and a nine-month low and resistance at 1.2799, the high of April 19.
The commodity-related Canadian dollar was boosted as oil prices continued to climb on Friday and were hovering close to the previous session’s five-month highs.
In addition, Statistics Canada said retail sales rose by 0.4% in February, confounding expectations for a 0.8% fall and after a downwardly revised 2.0% gain the previous month.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, ticked up 0.2% in February, beating expectations for a 0.5% slip.
A separate report showed that Canada’s consumer price index rose 0.6% in March, in line with expectations. Year-on-year, consumer prices rose 1.3%, exceeding expectations for an increase of 1.2%.
Core CPI, which excludes the eight most volatile items advanced by 0.7% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.3% gain.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD sliding 0.90% to 1.4245.
In the euro zone, research group Markit reported earlier that its Flash Composite Output Index, which measures the combined output of both the manufacturing and service sectors slipped from 53.1 in March to 53.0 in April, below forecasts for 53.2.