USD/CAD digesting overnight strong gains to 5-week tops

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

The USD/CAD pair was seen consolidating overnight strong gains to 5-week tops and traded with mild bearish bias around 1.3475 region.

A sharp drop in crude oil prices, with WTI crude oil falling more than 3.5% back closer to $50.00/barrel mark on Wednesday, weighed heavily on the commodity-linked currency - Loonie. Adding to this, a modest greenback recovery further aggravated the up-move and lifted the pair to its highest level since mid-March.

With the US Dollar failing to extend previous session's recovery move from 3-week lows, a mild up-tick in oil prices, in wake a reduction in the US commercial crude stockpiles, seems to have collaborated towards capping the pair just below the key 1.35 psychological mark, at least for the time being.

• US Dollar depressed near 99.60

Against the backdrop of nearly 250-pips of up-surge over the past three days, today's price-action could be categorized as consolidative phase. Traders now look forward to the US economic docket that includes - usual weekly jobless claims and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, and speech by the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for some fresh impetus.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate support is pegged near mid-1.3400s, below which the pair is likely to extend the corrective slide towards 1.3420 intermediate support ahead of the 1.3400-1.3390 strong horizontal support. On the upside, the 1.3500 handle remains immediate hurdle, which if cleared decisively has the potential to lift the pair beyond yearly highs resistance near 1.3515 level (March 9) towards testing its next major resistance near 1.3575-80 zone.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

EUR/USD flirts with daily highs, retargets 1.1900

EUR/USD regains upside traction, returning to the 1.1880 zone and refocusing its attention to the key 1.1900 barrier. The pair’s slight gains comes against the backdrop of a humble decline in the US Dollar as investors continue to assess the latest US CPI readings and the potential Fed’s rate path.

GBP/USD remains well bid around 1.3650

GBP/USD maintains its upside momentum in place, hovering around daily highs near 1.3650 and setting aside part of the recent three-day drop. Cable’s improved sentiment comes on the back of the Greenback’s irresolute price action, while recent hawkish comments from the BoE’s Pill also collaborate with the uptick.

Gold clings to gains just above $5,000/oz

Gold is reclaiming part of the ground lost on Wednesday’s marked decline, as bargain-hunters keep piling up and lifting prices past the key $5,000 per troy ounce. The precious metal’s move higher is also underpinned by the slight pullback in the US Dollar and declining US Treasury yields across the curve.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP in choppy price action, weighed down by falling institutional interest

Bitcoin's upside remains largely constrained amid weak technicals and declining institutional interest. Ethereum trades sideways above $1,900 support with the upside capped below $2,000 amid ETF outflows.

Week ahead – Data blitz, Fed Minutes and RBNZ decision in the spotlight

US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path.

Ripple Price Forecast: XRP potential bottom could be in sight

Ripple edges up above the intraday low of $1.35 at the time of writing on Friday amid mixed price actions across the crypto market. The remittance token failed to hold support at $1.40 the previous day, reflecting risk-off sentiment amid a decline in retail and institutional sentiment.