Canadian Dollar Rallies Against US Peer on Positive GDP Data

The  Canadian dollar today posted slights gains against its US peer after the  release of  upbeat Canadian May GDP data in  the  American session. The  USD/CAD currency pair was trading sideways with minimal losses for  most of  today’s session as  global crude oil prices remained sidelined.
The  USD/CAD currency pair today traded in  a  range marked by  a  high of  1.3436 and  a  low of  1.3404 before breaking lower on  the  GDP report to  hit a  low of  1.3381 and  was near these lows at  the  time of  writing.
The  currency pair traded sideways earlier today as  the  loonie failed to  capitalise on  the  greenback’s overall weakness as  tracked by  the  US Dollar Index. The  loonie’s performance was directly linked to  the  weak global crude oil prices as  tracked by  the  West Texas Intermediate, which traded as  low as  39.64. The  release of  Canadian GDP data for  May, which came in  at  4.5% versus the  expected 3.5%, boosted the  loonie driving the  pair lower. Statistics Canada  also reported that the  country’s industrial production in  June was 0.4%, which was slightly lower than consensus estimates of  0.5%.
The  release of  the  US personal consumption expenditure data for  June by  the  Bureau of  Economic Analysis could not help the greenback as the pair kept falling. The report showed that personal spending level rose despite incomes falling in June.
The  currency pair’s future performance is likely to  be affected by  crude oil prices and  geopolitical events over the  weekend.
The USD/CAD currency pair was trading at 1.3374 as at 15:44 GMT, having fallen from a high of 1.3436. The CAD/JPY currency pair was trading at 79.08, having rallied from a low of 77.61.
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