Dollar almost unchanged vs loonie after US and Canada issue downbeat data

On Monday the greenback was almost unchanged against its Canadian counterpart, as disappointing U.S. personal spending data weighed, though a weak report on Canada's current account dented demand for the loonie.

USD/CAD hit 1.2477 during early U.S. trade, the session low; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2514. Cable was likely to find support at 1.2388, the low of February 26 and resistance at 1.2624, the high of February 23.

The Commerce Department said in its reports that U.S. personal spending fell 0.2% in January, worse than expectations for a decline of 0.1%. Personal spending dropped 0.3% in December.

The data also indicated that personal income rose 0.3% in January, below forecasts for a 0.4% increase and after gaining 0.3% in December.

At the same time, in Canada, official data showed that the country's current account deficit C$13.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 from C$9.6 billion in the third quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$8.4 billion. Analysts had expected the current account deficit to narrow to C$7.4 billion in the last quarter.

The Canadian dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD rising 0.32% to 1.4054.

As of the euro zone, data showed that the annual rate of consumer inflation declined 0.3% in February, better than forecasts for a drop of 0.4%, following a 0.6% decline the previous month.

Core inflation, which strips out food and energy costs, was unchanged from January at 0.6%.

A separate report indicated that the euro zone’s unemployment rate fell to 11.2% in January, down from 11.3% in December. It was the lowest level since April 2012. Later in the day, the Institute of Supply Management was to report on U.S. manufacturing activity.