Investing.com - The U.S. dollar trimmed gains against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, but remained supported after data showed that Canadian consumer prices fell more-than-expected last month, while a separate report showed that Canadian retail were flat in October.
USD/CAD pulled away from 1.1630, the session high, to hit 1.1601 during early U.S. trade, still up 0.18%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1545, the low of December 15 and resistance at 1.1674, the high of December 17.
Statistics Canada reported that consumer price inflation fell 0.4% in November, confounding expectations for a 0.1% downtick, after a 0.1% rise in October.
Year-on-year, consumer prices rose 2.2% last month, confounding expectations for a 2.5% increase and down from a rate of 2.4% in October.
Core CPI, which excludes the eight most volatile items, slipped 0.2% last month, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% gain, after a 0.3% rise in October.
A separate report showed that Canadian retail sales were flat in October, beating expectations for a 0.2% fall, after an increase of 0.8% the previous month.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, rose 0.2% in October, compared to expectations for a 0.1% gain, after a flat reading in September.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained supported after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 12 fell by 6,000 to 289,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 295,000.
Economists had forecast an increase of 1,000.
The data came a day after the Fed said it would be "patient" before raising rates, guidance which it said is consistent with earlier assurances statement that rates would stay low "for a considerable time."
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank was unlikely to raise rates for the "next couple of meetings" indicating that a move in April at the earliest is possible.
The loonie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD edging up 0.16% to 1.4248.
Also Friday, data showed that the Gfk German consumer climate index rose to a six-month high of 9.0 in December from a reading of 8.7 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to tick up to 8.9 this month.