Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, as declining oil prices continued to weigh on demand for the commodity-related Canadian currency, while investors eyed the release of U.S. home sales data later in the day.
USD/CAD hit 1.3859 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since February 17; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3849, gaining 0.42%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3689, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.3911, the high of February 16.
The Canadian dollar weakened as oil prices slipped below $31 a barel on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said that production cuts "will not happen".
Separately, Iran also said it had no interest in reducing production after international sanctions against it were lifted, calling a joint Russian/Saudi proposal for major exporters to freeze output "laughable".
Meanwhile, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker said on Wednesday that the case for a rate hike was bolstered by recent data and that the U.S. central bank should concentrate on fostering economic growth via its control of inflation.
The comments came after Fed Vice-Chairman Stanley Fischer said that Fed officials " simply do not know" what course of action they will take at their next meeting in March.
The loonie was fractionally lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD easing up 0.08% to 1.5205.