Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose to three-week highs against its Canadian counterpart on Tuesday, after the release of mixed data from Canada and as expectations for a near-term U.S. rate hike continued to lend broad support to the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.3047 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since August 11; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3062, gaining 0.38%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2970, Monday’s low and resistance at 1.3125, the high of August 10.
Statistics Canada said the current account deficit widened to C$19.9 billion in the second quarter from C$16.6 billion in the first quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$16.8 billion.
Analysts had expected the current account deficit to widen to C$20.5 billion in the last quarter.
A separate report showed that the raw materials price index declined by 2.7% in July, confouding expectations for a 1.2% fall. The RMPI rose 2.0% in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 1.8% gain.
The greenback remained supported after Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said earlier Tuesday that the U.S. labor market is almost at full strength and the pace of interest rate increases will be data dependent.
The comments came during an interview with Bloomberg TV as investors looked ahead to the nonfarm payrolls report for July, scheduled for Friday.
The U.S. dollar had already strengthened broadly after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a speech at Jackson Hole last Friday that the case for raising U.S. interest rates has strengthened in recent months, citing improvements in the labor market and hopes for modest economic growth.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD adding 0.10% to 1.4571.