Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, despite a disappointing report on U.S. jobless claims as investors awaited the release of additional U.S. data on new home sales later in the day.
USD/CAD hit 1.2269 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2235.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2084, the low of April 17 and resistance at 1.2329, the high of April 16.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 18 increased by 1,000 to 295,000 from the previous week’s total of 294,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 4,000 to 290,000 last week.
The greenback had found support after the U.S. National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that existing home sales rose 6.1% last month to 5.19 million units from a revised total units of 4.89 million. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 3.0% in March.
The U.S. dollar's gains were held in check however, as investors pushed back expectations for higher U.S. interest rates after a recent streak of soft economic data dampened optimism on the country's recovery.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD rising 0.27% to 1.3158.
In the euro zone, market research group Markit said that the composite purchasing managers' index, which includes manufacturing activity and services, fell to 53.5 this month from 54.0 in March, compared to expectations for a rise to 54.4.
Germany's manufacturing PMI ticked down to 54.2 this month from a reading of 55.4 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 54.4 in April from 55.4 the previous month.
Markit also said that France's manufacturing PMI fell to 48.4 this month from 48.8 in March, while the services PMI slipped to 50.8 in April from a reading of 52.4 the previous month.