The Canadian dollar drifted higher against most major rivals in European deals on Wednesday, as oil prices fell after data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a decline in oil inventories, while the Energy Information Administration lifted up its oil demand forecast for 2015.
Crude for July delivery rose $1.28 to $61.42 per barrel.
The API reported a 6.7-million-barrel drop in crude oil inventories last week. It also showed that gasoline supplies fell by 3.9 million barrels, whereas U.S. distillate stocks may have risen by 38,000 barrels in the week.
In a separate report, the EIA raised crude oil production growth forecast in 2015 to 720,000 barrels per day from 530,000 barrels per day projected earlier. For 2016, the agency lowered production growth outlook to 160,000 barrels per day, from its previous estimate of 20,000 barrels per day.
The EIA upped its 2015 U.S. oil demand growth forecast to 380,000 barrels per day from 340,000 barrels per day seen last month, and maintained its 2016 demand growth forecast at 70,000 barrels per day.
The EIA will issue weekly inventory data at 10:30 am ET.
The loonie was trading mixed in the Asian session. While the loonie rose against the greenback and the aussie, it held steady against the euro. Against the yen, the loonie fell.
In European trading, the loonie advanced to a 4-day high of 1.3844 against the euro, while approaching 1.2235 against the greenback, its strongest since May 22. The loonie closed Tuesday’s trading at 1.3917 against the euro and 1.2334 against the greenback. The loonie is seen finding resistance around 1.37 against the euro and 1.20 against the greenback.
The loonie bounced off to 100.22 against the yen, from an early 5-day low of 99.50. If the loonie extends rise, it may test resistance around the 103.00 region.
On the flip side, the loonie reversed from an early multi-week high of 0.9431 against the aussie and edged down to 0.9537. The pair held steady thereafter. The pair was valued at 0.9484 at yesterday’s close.
Looking ahead, U.S federal budget statement and U.K. NIESR GDP estimate, both for May, are slated for release in the New York session.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com