Investing.com - The U.S. dollar trimmed losses against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, as positive U.S. data lent support but it remained near a five-month trough as the Federal Reserve’s latest policy statement continued to weigh.
USD/CAD pulled away from 1.2946, the pair’s lowest since October 20, to hit 1.2996 during early U.S. trade, still down 0.79%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2897, the low of October 19 and resistance at 1.3193, the high of November 4.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 12 increased by 7,000 to 265,000 from the previous week’s total of 258,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 10,000 to 268,000 last week.
In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index improved to 12.4 this month from February's reading of -2.8. Analysts had expected the index to improve only to -1.7 in February.
But the greenback remained under pressure after the Fed left its monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday and said that it is likely to raise interest rates twice this year – and not four times, as initially estimated.
Fed policymakers said the U.S. economy faces risks from an uncertain global economy, although moderate growth and "strong job gains" would allow it to tighten policy this year.
In Canada, data showed that wholesale sales were flat in January, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise. Wholesale sales increased by 1.8% in December, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 2.0% gain.
The loonie was little changed against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.4711.