By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- The Canadian dollar ended little changed against its US counterpart today. U.S. Inflation data did little to change bets of a pause from the US Federal Reserve in September, and as crude prices dipped moderately, but continued to hold near ten-month highs.
Despite the recent surge in crude prices, however, analysts note that "Firmer energy prices are not having any obvious, positive impact on the CAD at the moment but they might add marginally to CAD tailwinds if the USD slips back."
The USD meanwhile edged up marginally against a basket of major currencies but remained rangebound, with treasury yields also spiking immediately after the US CPI, but ultimately paring back.
Analysts at TD (TSX:TD) Securities note, "Today's CPI report should not make a meaningful difference for Fed officials ahead of the September FOMC meeting. However, it does keep alive the odds of an additional rate increase for the November/December meetings, particularly if we see a follow-through of accelerating core inflation in the September CPI report."
Ultimately, the much anticipated CPI report provided little impetus for the US dollar, while the CAD remains rangebound despite strong energy prices and an uptick in risk sentiment.
On a technical level for the pair, analysts at FX Street note, "the technical outlook for the USD/CAD remains neutral to bearish as the bears continue to show signs of gaining ground. With a negative slope below its midline, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) signals a bearish sentiment, while the Moving Average Convergence (MACD) histogram shows increasing red bars."
They recommend support levels at 1.3520, 1.3500, 1.3490, and resistence levels 1.3576 (20-day SMA), 1.3600, 1.3630.