Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after a batch of mixed U.S. economic reports, although upbeat inflation data from Canada lent some support to the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.2516 during early U.S. trade, the pair's highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2476, gaining 0.32%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2375, the low of February 18 and resistance at 1.2624, the high of February 23.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending February 21 increased by 31,000 to 313,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 282,000.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that total durable goods orders increased by 2.8% last month, above expectations for a gain of 1.7%, while core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, inched up 0.3% in January, disappointing forecasts for a 0.5% gain.
Data also showed that U.S. consumer prices declined 0.7% last month, compared to estimates for a decline of 0.6%, while core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy costs, increased by 0.2% in January, above expectations for a 0.1% increase.
The data came after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dampened demand for the greenback this week by saying that it was "unlikely" that economic conditions would warrant an interest rate increase for "at least the next couple of FOMC meetings".
In Canada, official data showed that consumer prices fell 0.2% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.3% decline, after a 0.7% drop the previous month.
Core consumer prices, excluding the eight most volatile items, rose 0.2% in January, exceeding expectations for a 0.1% uptick, after a 0.3% fall.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD retreating 0.58% to 1.4048.
The euro showed little reaction to a report showing that the number of unemployed people in Germany fell by 20,000 this month, compared to expectations for a drop of 10,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.5% in February, in line with expectations.
A separate report showed that the German Gfk consumer climate index rose to 9.7 from 9.3 in January, slightly ahead of forecasts of 9.6.