USD/CAD stationed near 100-DMA ahead of important macro releases

The USD/CAD pair's recovery from Thursday's sub-1.3200 level seems to have stalled and has now been parked near 100-day SMA, around 1.3250 region.

On Friday, the pair staged a minor recovery from 3-week lows, touched yesterday in the aftermath of slight disappointment from the Fed minutes. Repositioning ahead of a slew of macro releases from Canada and the US, including the keenly watched NFP data, might have triggered some short-covering bounce following the pair's sharp slide of around 400-pips from 1.3600 handle touched on Dec. 28. Today's minor recovery helped the pair to snap six days of losing streak amid broad based US Dollar recovery. 

Meanwhile, a subdued price action in oil market, with WTI crude oil flat-lined below $54.00/barrel mark, has failed to provide any impetus for the commodity-linked currency - Loonie. 

Investors on Friday will remain focused on the much awaited release of monthly jobs report from the US. Apart from this, Canadian economic docket that include - monthly employment details, trade balance data, Ivey PMI and factory orders would also help investors determine the pair's next leg of directional move. 

Technical levels to watch

Immediate upside resistance is pegged near 1.3275-80 region above which a fresh bout of short-covering might assist the pair to reclaim 1.3300 handle and head towards testing its next resistance near 1.3335-40 region. On the downside, 1.3225-20 area now becomes immediate support, which if broken seems to drag the pair back below 1.3200 handle and three-week lows support near 1.3190 level, towards its next support near 1.3130-25 region.