Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, helped by the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data and as investors turned their attention to Friday's highly anticipated U.S. employment report.
USD/CAD hit 1.2491 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2493, gaining 0.34%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2380, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.2534, the high of June 2.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 30 declined by 8,000 to 276,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 284,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 5,000 to 279,000 last week.
The report came after data on Wednesday showed that the U.S. private sector added 201,000 jobs last month, slightly ahead of expectations for 200,000 indicating that the recovery in the labor market is on track.
Investors were looking ahead to Friday's nonfarm payrolls report for further indications on the strength of the U.S. job market.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD up 0.11% to 1.4052.
The single currency was boosted as German 10-year bund yields jumped to their highest level since September, narrowing the gap with their U.S. counterparts.
German bund yields act as benchmarks for European financial markets and higher yields push the euro higher against the dollar. Yields rise as prices fall.
But investors remained cautious after talks between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels late Wednesday ended without an agreement to unlock more financial aid before the country runs out of money.