Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was lower against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, despite the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, as rising oil prices lent support to the commodity-related Canadian currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3106 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3101, shedding 0.33%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3004, the low of February 6 and resistance at 1.3201, Wednesday’s high.
The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims decreased by 12,000 to 234,000 in the week ending February 4 from the previous week’s total of 246,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 250,000 last week.
But sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable amid concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist stance and recent hints from the new administration that it would prefer a weaker dollar.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar was boosted by a strong rally in oil prices on Thursday, on the back of an unexpected decline in U.S. gasoline inventories.
Statistics Canada earlier reported that new housing price inflation rose 0.1% in December, disappointing ecpectations for an increase of 0.2% and following a 0.2% gain the previous month.
The loonie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD declining 0.43% to 1.4000.
The single currency remained under pressure amid concerns over the possibility of a Brexit or Trump-style shock result in France’s upcoming presidential election.
Worries over elections in the Netherlands, Germany and possibly Italy, as well as the ongoing row over Greece's bailout added to concerns over political risk in the euro area.