Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was hovering near two-week lows against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, as optimism surrounding the British referendum on a potential exit from the European Union, or Brexit, lifted market sentiment.
USD/CAD hit 1.2679 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s lowest since June 10; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2764, retreating 0.62%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2655, the low of June 10 and resistance at 1.2892, the high of June 20.
Sentiment was boosted after an opinion poll indicated that the remain campaign was leading in the Brexit vote.
The opinion poll, conducted by polling company Ipsos MORI for the Evening Standard newspaper, showed that 52% of voters wanted to remain in the EU, compared to 48% in favor of Leaving.
Investors were already confident after a YouGov poll for The Times newspaper on Wednesday showed that 51% of voters supported the campaign to remain in the EU, with 49% supporting Brexit, after a previous YouGov poll showing a lead for the campaign to leave.
A second poll, conducted by ComRes for the Daily Mail newspaper and ITV (LON:ITV) television showed the Remain campaign had a 48% to 42% lead over the Leave camp.
Separately, the commodity-related Canadian dollar found support as oil prices rebounded from losses posted on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a smaller than expected fall in U.S. inventories last week.
Markets shrugged off a report by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday saying that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending June 18 declined by 18,000 to 259,000 from the previous week’s total of 277,000.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 270,000 last week.
The loonie was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD adding 0.13% to 1.4530.