Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was lower against its Canadian counterpart on Monday, as the greenback pulled away from highs hit on Friday after strong U.S. jobs data and as trading was expected to remain quiet with no major U.S. data to be released throughout the session.
USD/CAD hit 1.2482 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2459, declining 0.54%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2389, the low of February 5 and resistance at 1.2587, the high of February 5.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. economy added 257,000 jobs in January, far more than the 234,000 forecast by economists. December’s figure was revised to 329,000 from a previously reported 252,000.
The unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month from December’s 5.6% hourly earnings and the participation rate both saw increases in January.
The upbeat jobs report was seen as strong enough to indicate that the Federal Reserve will remain on track to start raising rates from near zero levels as early as June.
In Canada, data on Monday showed that housing starts rose by 187,000 in January, beating expectations for a 185,000 increase, after a downwardly revised 180,000 gain in December.
The report came after data on Friday showed that Canadian building permits increased by 7.7% in December, more than the expected 5.0% rise.
The Canadian dollar had also received support after Statistics Canada reported on Friday that 35,400 jobs were created last month, compared to expectations for a 5,000 gain.
Canada's unemployment rate fell to 6.6% in January from 6.7% the previous month.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD retreating 0.57% to 1.4096.
The single currency weakened after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Sunday that he would stick to plans to roll back austerity measures and reject an international bailout extension.
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded Greece late Friday and warned that time is running out for Athens to reach an agreement on a new financing program with creditors.