Forexpros – The U.S. dollar rose to a two-day high against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, as comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi weighed on demand for riskier assets.
USD/CAD hit 1.0154 during U.S. morning trade, the pair’s highest since December 6; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0149, rising 0.50%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0020, the low of October 24 and resistance at 1.0222, the high of December 1.
At a press conference earlier, Draghi outruled the possibility of working with the International Monetary Fund on a rescue package and said the central bank could not give monetary financing to governments.
The ECB did unveil new measures to increase liquidity, however, including unlimited 36-month credit to euro zone banks, a cut in the reserve requirement for commercial banks and the loosening of collateral requirements for ECB loans.
The announcement came after the ECB cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25%, bringing rates to a record low 1%.
In the U.S., a report showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell more-than-expected, declining to the lowest level since late February.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 2 fell to 381,000, outstripping expectations for a decline to 396,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 404,000 from 402,000.
Elsewhere, the loonie was up against the euro with EUR/CAD shedding 0.07%, to trade at 1.3534.
Earlier Thursday, data showed that housing starts in Canada declined more-than-expected in November, falling to 181,000 units from 209,000 the previous month.
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