The Canadian dollar has posted losses in the Thursday session, erasing the gains seen on Wednesday post dovish trade deficit. The pair was trading at around 1.2852 on Thursday as the New York session came to en end. The USD/CAD is struggling to find a clear direction and is for the moment confined in the 1.2800-1.2900 range for the 9th consecutive day in a row. Neither bulls nor bears are taking any risks as the pair is now sitting at its 50-period simple moving average on the daily time frame.
USDCAD in Range
The status quo might change as the non-farm payroll and the wage’s growth are due to be released on Friday at 12:30 GMT. The news can potentially bring a lot of volatility and the loonie might break its range. The status quo might change later today as the non-farm payroll and the wage’s growth are due to be released at 12:30 GMT. On the release front, Canada’s trade deficit jumped to C$4.14 billion, well above the estimate of C$2.3 billion.
In the US, unemployment claims edged up to 211 thousand, easily beating the estimate of 225 thousand. While ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI & business activity data had a dovish outcome. Traders are also on look out for Canada releases Ivey PMI which is to be released later today. Traders are currently observing the pair’s performance on cautious note and would like to see a clear exit out of the range before making further bets. A break below 1.2815 could signal the downside exit of the range and could set the stage for the 1.2750 hurdle.
If that barrier does not prove strong enough to stop the bears, then we may experience more downside extensions, towards our next support of 1.2680. On the upside, we would like to see a clear move above 1.2900 in order to start examining whether the near-term picture has turned back positive. Such a move could initially aim for the 1.2945 zone, the break of which could see scope for extensions towards the psychological round zone of 1.3000. Expected Support and resistance price levels are seen at 1.2800 / 1.2650 and 1.2900 / 1.300 respectively.