Forexpros – The U.S. dollar trimmed losses against its Canadian counterpart in holiday thinned trade on Wednesday, as concerns over the financial crisis in the euro zone lingered despite a huge liquidity injection by the European Central Bank.
USD/CAD pulled away from 1.0208, the pair’s lowest since December 12, to hit 1.0287 during early U.S. trade, down just 0.09% on the day,
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0208, the session low and resistance at 1.0308, the session high.
Earlier in the day, the ECB allotted EUR489.19 billion in three-year loans to 523 European banks in an attempt to avert a liquidity crunch in the euro zone.
It is hoped that the funds may also be used by lenders to purchase the sovereign debt of indebted euro zone states, easing pressure on borrowing costs.
The amount allotted was the largest ever for a longer-term refinancing operation by the ECB and underlined concerns over the scale of the financial crisis in the euro zone.
The Canadian dollar remained supported after official data showed that Canadian retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.0% in October, more than doubling expectations for a 0.4% gain.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in October, exceeding expectations for a 0.4% increase.
The loonie was also higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD shedding 0.35% to hit 1.3424.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to produce industry data on existing home sales.
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