Investing.com - The U.S. dollar slipped to six-month lows against its Canadian counterpart on Tuesday, as higher oil prices boosted demand for the commodity-related Canadian currency and as lower expectations for a near-term U.S. rate hike continued to weigh on the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.2851 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since October 16; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2883, edging down 0.12%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2848, the low of October 16 and resistance at 1.3015, Monday’s high.
The Canadian dollar found support as oil prices continued to rise on Tuesday, ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting between major oil producers from the Middle East and Russia scheduled in Doha next Sunday.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained under pressure after recent dovish comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen prompted investors to push back expectations on the timing of the next interest rate increase.
Lower interest rates make the dollar less attractive to yield seeking investors.
The U.S. dollar showed little reaction to comments from Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, who said Monday he is "very open-minded" to deciding whether to raise rates at the bank’s June meeting, but ruled out an April rate hike.
Data on Tuesday showed that U.S. import prices rose by 0.2% in March, disappointing expectations for an increase of 1.0%. Import prices fell 0.4% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.3% downtick.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD sliding 0.29% to 1.4669.