CAD Limits Losses After Retail Sales Data

The Canadian Dollar (CAD) is showing a mixed but mostly negative performance against the U.S. Dollar (USD) on Friday after data showed a better than expected slump in Canadian retail sales.

In addition, with improving daily performance by oil futures, the Canadian is gaining relative support as a commodity currency that is showing a weaker performance than its Australian and New Zealand peers.

The USD/CAD pair is trading higher for the day by 0.07% at 1.2572 after is early trade in the American session as high as 1.2605 in its highest level in about two sessions.

Retail sales in Canada declined during May, by 2.1% to a seasonally adjusted CAD 53.78 billion, according to official data released on Friday.

The decline in Canadian retail sales came with the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic leaving its toll on the economy amid another wave of infections that forced lockdowns and other restrictions and preventive measures, according to Statistics Canada.

However, the drop in retail sales came better than the previously expected 3.2% decline.