Forex: USD/CAD continues downtick

_iNVEZZ.com Friday July 12th:_ Today’s Asian session saw the USD/CAD start a downtick from 1.0375 which has continued into European trading, with the greenback now having dropped to 1.0357 against its Canadian counterpart, the pair’s lowest price for the day to this point.

In the absence of any significant economic data from Canada today, traders are focused on the preliminary reading of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for July, scheduled for release at 14:55 BST today.
The pair’s downward movement started at 0.9234 in Asian trading yesterday and following positive Canadian updates the pair fell to the day’s low at 0.9117.

The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) for May m/m reported a rise of 0.1 percent, weaker than the forecast rise of 0.3 percent and the prior month’s 0.2 percent, but maintaining the increases accrued over the past 12 months. On an annualised basis, the NHPI came out at a gain of 1.8 percent, down from April’s two percent.
Futures on crude oil, Canada’s largest export, fell by 1.8 percent to C$104.65 per barrel yesterday, after having reached a 15-month high on Wednesday.

Later in the day US unemployment data showed that seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims came in at 360,000 for the week ended July 6 (advance figure), well in excess of expectations for 340,000 and the prior week’s revised 344,000. Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ended June 29 clocked in at 2,977,000, up 24,000 on the prior week’s revised 2,953,000.