Investing.com - The U.S. dollar climbed against its Canadian counterpart on Friday, as downbeat Canadian data on inflation and retail sales dampened demand for the local currency, although the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision still weighed on the greenback.
USD/CAD hit 1.3156 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since Wednesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3139, advancing 0.74%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2996, Thursday’s low and resistance at 1.3238, Wednesday’s high.
Statistics Canada reported that the consumer price index slipped 0.2% in August, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise. Year-on-year, CPI increased by 1.1% last month, lower that expectations for a 1.4% gain.
Core CPI, which excludes the eight most volatile items, was flat in August, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise.
A separate report showed that Canada’s retail sales fell 0.1% in July, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.1%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, ticked down 0.1% in July, confounding expectations for a 0.5% rise.
The greenback began to recover from broad losses posted after the Fed decided on Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged and projected a less aggressive rise in interest rates next year and in 2018.
The loonie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD climbing 0.73% to 1.4725.
In the euro zone, research group Markit earlier reported that the composite purchasing managers’ index, which includes both manufacturing and service sector activity, slipped to 52.6 in Septemner from 52.8 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.