USD/CAD trades with modest losses, around mid-1.3400s amid positive oil prices

   •  A goodish pickup in Oil prices underpin Loonie and exert some downward pressure.
   •  Escalating US-China trade tensions drove haven flows and seemed to help limit losses.
   •  Focus remains on the latest US consumer inflation figures and US-China trade talks.

The USD/CAD pair held on to its mildly weaker tone, albeit has managed to recover around 25-30 pips from the Asian session swing lows to the 1.3435 region.

Having failed to sustained/build on Thursday's uptick to levels just above the key 1.3500 psychological mark, the pair witnessed some weakness on the last trading day of the week and retreated further from two-week tops. 

A goodish pickup in Oil prices turned out to be one of the key factors underpinning demand for the commodity-linked currency - Loonie and exerted some downward pressure on the major amid a subdued US Dollar price action.

The greenback held on the defensive amid the ongoing slide in the US Treasury bond yields and seemed rather unaffected by the fact that the US decided to go ahead with a tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Meanwhile, the US President Donald Trump said he had ordered the preparation of new tariffs on a further $325 billion worth of goods, which drove some haven flows to the USD and helped limit deeper losses, at least for now.

Investors also seemed reluctant to place any aggressive bets and preferred to wait on the sidelines ahead of Friday's important release of the latest US consumer inflation figures, due later during the early North-American session.

Technical levels to watch

The 1.3435-30 region might continue to protect the immediate downside and is followed by the 1.3400 round figure mark and 50-day SMA support near 1.3385 region. On the flip side, the 1.3485 horizontal zone now seems to act as an immediate resistance, above which the pair is likely to surpass the 1.35 handle and aim towards challenging April swing highs, around the 1.3520 region.