Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to an 11-year high against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, as data showing that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since 1973 continued to lend broad support to the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.3102 during early U.S. trade, the pair's highest since September 2004; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3073, gaining 0.28%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2946, Thursday's low and resistance at 1.3165.
The greenback strengthened broadly after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 18 fell by 26,000 to a 40-year low of 255,000 from the previous week’s total of 281,000.
On Friday, research group Markit said that its U.S. flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 53.8 this month from 53.6 in June, beating expectations for an unchanged reading.
The positive data added to expectations for a U.S. rate hike in the near future. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last week that the central bank is likely to raise rates "at some point this year."
The loonie was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD easing 0.09% to 1.4307.
The single currency weakened after research group Markit said that Germany's preliminary manufacturing PMI ticked down to 51.5 this month from 51.9 in June, disappointing expectations for an unchanged reading.
Germany's services PMI slipped to 53.7 in July from 53.8 in June, compared to expectations for a rise to 53.9.
Markit also said that France's preliminary manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 this month from 50.7 in June, while the services PMI declined to 52.0 from 54.1.
For the entire euro zone, Markit said the composite PMI, which combines the manufacturing and the service sectors, slipped to 53.7 in July from 54.2 the previous month.