USD/CAD in search of a firm direction, stuck in a range below mid-1.3000s

The USD/CAD pair extended its sideways consolidative price action and remained confined in a range, just below mid-1.3000s through the early North-American session on Thursday.

A mildly positive tone around crude oil prices – now up around 0.45% for the day – extended some support to the commodity-linked currency – loonie and was seen as one of the key factors keeping a lid on any attempted positive move for the major.

Traders refrained from placing any aggressive bets

The downside, however, remained limited and was further cushioned by a modest US dollar rebound following the release of mostly upbeat US economic releases – monthly retail sales data, Philly Fed Manufacturing Index and initial weekly jobless claims.

In fact, the headline Retail Sales recorded a growth of 0.3% in December and Core Sales expanded 0.7% MoM, both surpassing consensus estimates. Adding to this, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index also surprised to the upside and improved to 17.0 for January.

Despite the supporting factors, traders refrained from placing any aggressive bets, rather preferred to wait on the sidelines and wait for a fresh catalyst before positioning for the pair's next leg of a directional move ahead of next week's BoC monetary policy update.

Technical levels to watch