Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, even as data showed that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level in more than eight years last week.
USD/CAD hit 1.0743 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0734, inching up 0.05%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0631, the low of July 11 and resistance at 1.0763, the high of July 18.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 19 declined by 19,000 to an more than ehgt-year low of 284,000, from the previous week’s total of 303,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 308,000 last week.
The upbeat data eased concerns over the strength of the U.S. labor market.
The Canadian dollar remained mildly supported after data on Thursday showed that Canadian retail sales rose 0.7% in May, ahead of forecasts for a 0.6% gain, while the previous month’s number was revised up to 1.3%.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD edging up 0.09% to 1.4457.
The euro strengthened earlier, after a report showed that the preliminary reading of the euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to a two-month high of 51.9 this month. The bloc’s services PMI jumped to a 38-month high of 54.4.
Private sector activity in Germany also expanded in July, with the country’s services PMI jumping to a 37 month high. The French service sector also expanded this month, but the contraction in the country's manufacturing sector deepened.