USDCAD Overnight Range 1.2864-1.2987        

USDCAD gapped higher at the start of the Asia trading session, jumping to 1.2987 from Friday’s close of 1.2820. News that the highly anticipated Doha, Qatar Opec meeting ended without an agreement sent WTI prices lower and USDCAD higher.

That set the risk aversion tone for Asia FX. USDJPY gapped lower on the Doha news and also because of two serious earthquakes and a falling Nikkei.  NZDUSD performed admirably, rallying on the back of positive data from China and a decent domestic CPI report.

Europe walked in and didn’t feel the same risk aversion as Asia. Although it was quite a full-fledged risk-on move, European traders reversed most of the big FX losses that occurred in Asia. USDJPY almost completely recovered from the Asia sell-off, EURUSD remained rangebound and GBPUSD returned to Friday’s levels.

WTI gapped lower at the open and touched $37.61/barrel before bouncing.  It is currently sitting at $38.64/b. A large oil workers strike in Kuwait has cut their daily oil production in half which which has tempered the enthusiasm of oil bears.

USDCAD has bounced off the overnight low of 1.2864 and is currently flirting with 1.2900.  There isn’t any domestic data and minimal US data, leaving USDCAD traders to track oil prices.

USDCAD technical outlook

The intraday USDCAD technicals are muddled. The large gap from Friday’s 1.2820 close to Monday’s 1.2950 open leaves a lot of room for consolidation. In addition, the intraday downtrend from April 7 remains intact while prices are below 1.2990 with the short term downtrend, intact while trading below 1.3050.  For today, USDCAD support is at 1.2860 and 1.2820.  Resistance is at 1.2930, 1.2970 and 1.3020.

Today’s Range 1.2860-1.2950

Chart: USDCAD  30 minute