Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, despite official data showed that U.S. jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week.
USD/CAD hit 1.0223 during early U.S. trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0177, inching up 0.01%
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0123, Wednesday’s low and a 12-day low and resistance at 1.0293, the high of November 17.
The U.S. Department of Labor said new claims for unemployment benefits climbed to a seasonally adjusted 402,000 last week from an upwardly revised 396,000 the previous week, rising above 400,000 for the first time in just over a month.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to decline to 390,000 last week.
Demand for riskier assets remained supported after auctions of French and Spanish government debt met with better-than-expected demand earlier, reassuring investors.
The auctions were seen as a major test of investor confidence, coming one day after six major central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank cut the cost of emergency dollar funding for European banks in a coordinated action.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD easing up 0.16% to hit 1.3707.
Later in the day, the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on U.S. manufacturing activity.
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