Investing.com - The U.S. trimmed losses against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after positive U.S. data and the European Central Bank’s latest policy decision boosted the greenback, although upbeat housing sector data from Canada also lent some support to the local currency.
USD/CAD eased off 1.3200, the pair’s lowest since October 20, to hit 1.3235 during early U.S. trade, steady for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3106, the low of October 20 and resistance at 1.3300, Wednesday’s high.
The U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 258,000 in the week ending December 2, in line with expectations.
But sentiment on the greenback remained fragile ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.
Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported that building permits increased by 8.7% in October, confounding expectations for a 0.7% fall.
Building permits declined by 4.6% in September, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 7.0% drop.
The commodity-related Canadian dollar was also supported by a rise in oil prices on Thursday, although doubts remained over whether a planned output cut by OPEC will be enough to reduce a global supply glut.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD tumbling 1.24% to 1.4055.
The euro weakened broadly after the ECB said at its monthly policy meeting that it would extend its asset purchase program for an additional nine months.
Beyond the program’s scheduled end in March 2017, the central bank said net asset purchases are intended to continue at a monthly pace of €60 billion until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary.
In addition, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low of zero, in line with forecasts.