Investing.com - The U.S. dollar rose near more than 11-year highs against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after upbeat U.S. jobless claims data and as the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates on Wedneday continued to support.
USD/CAD hit 1.3845 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3878, gaining 0.70%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3668, the low of December 15 and resistance at 1.3848, Wednesday's high and a more than 11-year peak.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 11 decreased by 11,000 to 271,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 275,000 last week.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index deteriorated to -5.9 this month from November's reading of 1.9. Analysts had expected the index to dip to 1.5 in December.
The reports came a day after the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25% and 0.50% at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting. It was the first rate hike in the U.S. since 2006.
Commenting on the decision, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that further rate hikes would be gradual and data dependent.
The loonie was steady against the euro, with EUR/CAD at 1.5045.
In the euro zone, the German research institute Ifo said its Business Climate Index fell to 108.7 this month from a reading of 109.0 in November, below forecasts for 109.0.