Investing.com - The dollar was higher against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after the release of mixed U.S. economic reports, as a drop in oil prices weighed on demand for the commodity-related Canadian currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3213 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3188, climbing 0.54%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3114, the session low and resistance at 1.3184, the high of October 17.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 15 increased by 13,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s total of 247,000, an upward revision from the initial 246,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 4,000 to 250,000 last week.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said its business conditions index came in at 9.7 this month, down from 12.8 in September. Economists had expected a reading of 5.3 this month.
Meanwhile, the Canadian currency was hit by a sharp decline in oil prices, as traders locked in profits from the commodity’s recent rally.
The loonie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD gaining 0.26% to 1.4429.
Earlier Thursday, the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged at record lows of zero.
The ECB also left its quantitative easing program unchanged at €80 billion per month.