USD/CAD consolidates recent gains, holds weaker just below 1.32 handle
| • Follow-through USD buying fails to assist build on last week’s strong gains.
• Sliding oil prices also does little to provide any fresh bullish impetus.
The USD/CAD pair now seems to have entered a bullish consolidation phase and was seen oscillating in a narrow trading band, just below the 1.3200 handle.
Despite a combination of supporting factors, the pair struggled to build on last week's strong up-move to near one-year tops and held with a mildly softer tone at the start of a new trading week.
The recent US Dollar upsurge to seven-month tops remained unaffected by escalating US-China trade tensions, albeit failed to assist the pair to gain any positive traction.
Even the ongoing slump in crude oil prices, which tends to undermine demand for the commodity-linked currency - Loonie also did little to provide any fresh bullish impetus to the major.
Bulls now seemed taking some breather, especially the latest leg of the sharp upsurge of nearly 250-pips over the past two-trading sessions and seemed to be only factor leading to a subdued/range-bound price action through the early European session on Monday.
In absence of any major market moving economic releases, either from the US or Canada, traders are likely to take cues from speeches by influential FOMC members - Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and San Francisco Fed President John Williams, which might help grab some short-term trading opportunities.
Technical levels to watch
On a sustained move beyond the 1.3200 handle, the pair is likely to extend the up-move towards 1.3265-70 intermediate hurdle before aiming to surpass the 1.3300 round figure mark, towards testing its next hurdle near the 1.3330 region.
On the flip side, 1.3125 level is likely to protect the immediate downside, which if broken might turn the pair vulnerable to challenge the 1.3100 resistance break-point now turned support.
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