Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was steady near six month highs against the Canadian dollar on Wednesday after data showed that the U.S. private sector added slightly more jobs than expected last month, as investors awaited U.S. manufacturing data later in the day.
USD/CAD hit highs of 1.1222, the most since March 24 before pulling back to trade at 1.1196, almost unchanged for the day.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1175 and resistance at around 1.1245.
Payrolls processor ADP reported that the U.S. private sector added 213,000 jobs last month, slightly ahead of expectations for jobs growth of 210,000. The economy created 202,000 jobs in August.
The report came ahead of Friday’s government nonfarm payrolls report, which includes both public and private sector employment. The government report was expected to show that the U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs for a sixth successive month in August.
The Institute of Supply Management was to release data on U.S. manufacturing activity later Wednesday.
Demand for the greenback continued to be underpinned by expectations that the deepening recovery will prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner.
Elsewhere, the loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD slipping 0.19% to 1.4111.
The euro weakened after data earlier on Wednesday showed that manufacturing activity in the currency bloc slowed to a 14-month low in September.
The report came a day after data showed that the annual rate of euro area inflation fell to a five year low of 0.3% in September.
The weak data added to pressure on the European Central Bank to implement additional stimulus measures to stave off the threat of deflation in the euro area, ahead of its monthly meeting on Thursday.