Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after relatively disappointing U.S. jobless claims data and amid ongoing concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone.
USD/CAD hit 1.0269 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since December 22; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0240, easing 0.07%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0176, the low of December 27 and resistance at 1.0308, the high of December 21.
Data showed earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more-than-expected.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 23 rose to 381,000, disappointing expectations for a rise to 370,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 366,000 from 364,000, which was the lowest since April 2008.
Despite, the increase claims have fallen below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in seven of the past eight weeks.
Meanwhile, the loonie remained supported as crude oil for delivery in February advanced 0.13% to trade at USD99.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Raw materials, including oil account for about half of Canada’s export revenue.
Market sentiment weakened earlier after Italy’s Treasury missed its maximum target of EUR8.5 billion at a long term debt sale and the yield on 10-year Italian bonds rose slightly above the 7%, threshold widely seen as unsustainable.
Elsewhere, the loonie was higher against the euro with EUR/CAD shedding 0.37%, to hit 1.3210.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release industry data on pending home sales and business conditions in the Chicago area, as well as an official report on crude oil stockpiles.
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