USD/CAD well bid near 1.34 handle amid weaker oil prices
The USD/CAD pair was seen building on previous session's sharp recovery from monthly lows and jumped to multi-day tops before retracing few pips to currently trade marginally below the 1.3400 handle.
On Tuesday, the pair slipped below the 100-day SMA on surprisingly strong Canadian retail sales data for January but managed to bounce off sharply from the 1.3265 region and erased daily losses. The pair's quick recovery was led by renewed selling pressure in oil markets, which was seen weighing heavily on the commodity-linked currency - Loonie.
Persistent weakness in the commodity space, with WTI crude oil placed at four month lows, provided an additional boost to the major on Wednesday. This coupled with modest US Dollar recovery further collaborated to the up-move and lifted the pair to weekly highs.
Meanwhile, the ongoing slide in the US treasury bond yields have failed to lend any additional support and thus, seems to have capped further up-move for the major.
Later during NA session, the US existing home sales data, followed by the EIA report on US crude oil inventories, would now be looked upon for some fresh impetus.
Technical levels to watch
On a sustained strength above 1.3410 level, the pair is likely to head towards testing mid-1.3400s ahead of 1.3475-80 horizontal resistance. On the flip side, retracement back below 1.3375-70 area is likely to drag the pair back towards 1.3350-45 support area, below which the pair is likely to turn vulnerable to head back towards retesting 100-day SMA support near the 1.3300 handle.