Forex - USD/CAD steady as Greece debt talks dominate

Forexpros - The U.S. dollar was steady against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after better-than-expected U.S. unemployment data while concerns over the outcome of Greek debt talks continued to weigh.

USD/CAD hit 1.0010 during early U.S. trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 0.9986, edging down 0.01%.

The pair was likely to find support at 0.9963, Wednesday’s low and resistance at 1.0040, the high of January 27.

Investor confidence briefly improved earlier after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits fell last week to 367,000, beating expectations for a decline to 373,000.

The previous week’s figure was revised up to 379,000 from 377,000.
Jobless claims have remained below 400,000, a level historically associated with an improving labor market, in 12 of the past 14 weeks.

Sentiment was hit, however, after Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker said that debt swap talks between Greece and private creditors were “ultra-difficult”.

Earlier in the week, European officials indicated that negotiations with Greece’s private creditors on a debt writedown are almost concluded, but concerns have persisted that the debt swap deal will not go far enough to reduce the country’s debt load.

The remarks overshadowed solid bond auctions by Spain and France earlier in the day, which saw borrowing costs for both countries decline.

Meanwhile, the loonie remained under pressure as crude oil for delivery in March tumbled 1.23% to trade at USD96.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.   

Raw materials, including oil account for about half of Canada’s export revenue.

The Canadian dollar was higher against the euro with EUR/CAD shedding 0.18%, to hit 1.3120.

Later in the day, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to testify before the House of Representatives budget committee.