USD/CAD up little around mid-1.2900s, awaits FOMC minutes for fresh impetus

The USD/CAD pair faded a knee-jerk bullish spike and quickly retreated over 25-pips from session high level of 1.2975, albeit has still managed to hold with minor gains.

The pair stalled its recent bearish fall and staged a minor recovery from near 10-month lows touched in the previous session. Today's recovery was being supported by a sharp retracement in oil prices, with WTI crude oil trading with losses of over 1.5% and denting demand for the commodity-linked currency - Loonie.

Adding to this, A follow through greenback buying interest, with the key US Dollar Index extending its cautious recovery move from last week's nine-month lows remained supportive for the pair's modest recovery on Wednesday.

The up-move, however, seemed lacking conviction as the recent hawkish rhetoric by the BoC continued lending support to the Canadian Dollar and kept a lid on any meaningful recovery for the major. 

   •  CAD: No respite – RBC CM

Today's FOMC meeting minutes would now be looked upon to gauge possibilities and timing of the next Fed rate hike action, which would eventually help investors determine the next leg of directional move for the major.

   •  US: All eyes on FOMC minutes – TDS

Technical levels to watch

Momentum above session high resistance near 1.2975 level could get extended towards the key 1.30 psychological mark, above which a fresh bout of short-covering has the potential to lift the pair towards 1.3065 intermediate hurdle ahead of the 1.3100 handle.

On the flip side, 1.2930-25 area remains an immediate support to defend, which if broken could accelerate the slide even below the 1.2900 round figure mark towards its next major support near 1.2855-50 region.