Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, after the release of tepid retail sales data from Canada and as expectations for a U.S. rate hike in the near future continued to support the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.3234 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3299, adding 0.22%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3171, the low of September 21 and resistance at 1.3310, the high of September 11.
Statistics Canada reported that retail sales rose 0.5% in July, in line with expectations. Retail sales increased by 0.4% in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.6% gain.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, were flat in July, compared to expectations for a 0.4% gain. Core retail sales increased by 0.5% in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.8% advance.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after comments by some Federal Reserve officials Monday night indicated that a U.S. rate hike is still on the cards this year.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart indicated in separate remarks that the U.S. central bank is still likely to raise short-term interest rates this year.
Investors were looking ahead to a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen later in the week for additional clarity on the bank’s decision last week to leave interest rates on hold.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD advancing 0.44% to 1.4828.
Research group Markit reported on Wednesday that Germany's manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 52.5 in September from 53.3 the previous month, while the services PMI ticked down to 54.3 from 54.9.
France's manufacturing PMI ticked up to 50.4 this month from 48.3 in August, while the services PMI rose to 51.2 from 50.6.
For the entire euro zone, the composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing activity and services, slipped to 53.9 in September, Markit reported, from a reading of 54.3 in August.