US dollar He slipped back minimum to five-month low against its Canadian counterpart on Friday after the release of retail sales data from Canada and optimistic as rising oil prices continued to support the Canadian currency linked to commodities .
USD / CAD hit 1.2941 during early US operations, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2965, down 0.10% edge.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2897, the low of October 19 and resistance at 1.3134, Thursday’s high.
Statistics Canada said retail sales rose 2.1% in January, beating expectations for an increase of 0.6%. Retail sales fell 2.1% in December, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 2.2% fall in underlying .Sales less, excluding cars, rose 1.2% in January, compared to expectations of a rise of 0.4%. Retail sales fell 1.7% in December, whose figure was revised from a previous estimate of 1.6% fall.
A separate report showed that the consumer price index in Canada rose 0.2% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 0.4%, after a 0.2% rise in January.
Year after year, consumer prices rose 1.4% in February, compared to expectations of a rise of 1.5%.
The core CPI, which exlude the eight most volatile items, rose by 0.5% last month, in line with expectations, after rising 0.3% in January.
The Canadian dollar found support oil prices moved back above $ 40 a barrel amid new hopes for a possible freeze on production of major oil producers.
Meanwhile, sentiment on the dollar remains vulnerable after the Federal Reserve left unchanged its monetary policy on Wednesday and said it is likely to raise interest rates twice this year – and not four times as initially estimated.
The Fed said the US economy It faces risks from an uncertain global economy, although moderate growth and “strong gains in employment” would allow tighten policy this year.
The Fed said the US economy It faces risks from an uncertain global economy, although moderate growth and “strong gains in employment” would allow tighten policy this year.
The Canadian dollar rose against the euro, with EUR / CAD slipping 0.35% to 1.4635.
