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USD/CAD in search of a firm direction, flat-lined below 1.3400 mark

  • USD/CAD seesawed between tepid gains/minor losses through the North American session.
  • A pickup in oil prices underpinned the loonie and partly offset a broad-based USD strength.
  • Stronger macro data from the US and Canada held investors from placing any aggressive bets.

The USD/CAD pair refreshed daily lows during the early North American session, albeit lacked any strong follow-through and quickly recovered around 25 pips thereafter.

The pair struggled to capitalize on its early uptick and witnessed a modest intraday pullback from the top end of a one-week-old trading range, around the 1.3420 region. However, a combination of factors extended some support and helped limit any deeper losses for the USD/CAD pair.

The US dollar was back in demand on Wednesday in reaction to a chaotic end of the US presidential debate and maintained its bid tone following the release of upbeat US macro data. The US ADP report showed that private-sector employers added 749K new jobs in September.

Adding to this, the final version of the US GDP print was revised higher to show that the economy contracted by 31.4% during the second quarter of 2020 as against 31.7% estimated. Separately, Chicago PMI beat expectations by a big margin and surged to 62.4 for September.

Meanwhile, the monthly Canadian GDP report showed that the economy recorded a growth of 3% in July, lower than the previous month's 6.5% rise. This, coupled with a modest uptick in crude oil prices, extended some support to the commodity-linked loonie and exerted some pressure.

Stronger economic data from both the US and Canada held investors from placing any aggressive bets. This coupled with the fact that the USD/CAD pair has been oscillating in a range over the past one-week or so further warrant some caution before positioning for the near-term trajectory.

Technical levels to watch

USD/CAD

Overview
Today last price1.3384
Today Daily Change-0.0004
Today Daily Change %-0.03
Today daily open1.3388
 
Trends
Daily SMA201.3225
Daily SMA501.3251
Daily SMA1001.3451
Daily SMA2001.3527
 
Levels
Previous Daily High1.3419
Previous Daily Low1.3352
Previous Weekly High1.3418
Previous Weekly Low1.3171
Previous Monthly High1.3451
Previous Monthly Low1.302
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%1.3393
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%1.3378
Daily Pivot Point S11.3354
Daily Pivot Point S21.332
Daily Pivot Point S31.3287
Daily Pivot Point R11.342
Daily Pivot Point R21.3453
Daily Pivot Point R31.3487

Author

Haresh Menghani

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

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