Investing.com - The U.S. dollar slipped lower against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, pulling away from three-month highs after the release of positive U.S. jobless claims data as investors locked in profits following the greenback's recent rally against its major counterparts.
USD/CAD hit 1.0953 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0954, down 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0890, the low of August 19 and resistance at 1.0986, the high of August 6.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 16 decreased by 14,000 to 298,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 312,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 12,000 to 300,000 last week.
The dollar had rallied to three-month highs against the loonie earlier in the day, as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting on Wednesday showed that some officials believe the strengthening recovery and ongoing improvement in the labor market supports a move towards tightening monetary policy.
Other officials want to see further evidence of economic recovery before moving towards raising rates.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD easing 0.10% to 1.4534.
Also Thursday, data showed that activity in the euro zone’s manufacturing sector slowed to a 13 month low in August, with the euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers' index down to 50.8 from 51.8 in July. Economists had forecast a decline to 51.3.
The region’s services PMI slid to 53.5 from 54.2 in July, in line with forecasts.
Activity in Germany’s factor sector slowed but remained solid, while manufacturing activity in France contracted for a sixth successive month.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on manufacturing activity and existing home sales.