2019.08.2103:09:00UTC+00Canadian Dollar Advances As Oil Prices Rise On Crude Inventory Data

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its most major counterparts in the Asian session on Wednesday, as oil prices strengthened after an industry data showed a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude inventories last week.

Crude for October delivery rose $0.28 to $56.41 a barrel.

Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude inventories dropped by 3.5 million barrels for the week ended August 16. Analysts had expected a decline of 1.9 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories fell by 403,000 for the week, while distillate inventories were up by 1.806 million barrels.

Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be published later today, with analysts expecting a drop of 1.889 million barrels last week.

Investors await the Fed's July policy meeting minutes later in the day and chairman Jerome Powell's speech at an annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday for policy outlook.

The loonie strengthened to a 2-day high of 1.3299 against the greenback from yesterday's closing value of 1.3317. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 1.30 mark.

The loonie that closed Tuesday's trading at 1.4782 against the euro edged higher to 1.4762. On the upside, 1.46 is possibly seen as the next resistance for the loonie.

The loonie rose to 80.08 against the yen, from a low of 79.71 hit at 5:45 pm ET. The loonie is seen finding resistance around the 82.00 region.

On the flip side, the loonie moved sideways versus the aussie, trading between the range of 0.9031-0.9021. The pair had ended Tuesday's trading at 0.9026.

Data from Westpac showed that Australia's leading index moved above trend since November last year, signaling that the economy is set to grow around trend for the last three or four months of 2019 and well into the first half of next year.

The six month annualized growth rate in the Westpac- Melbourne Institute Leading Index that indicates likely pace of economic activity, rose to +0.05 percent in July from -0.09 percent in June.

Looking ahead, U.K. public sector finance data for July is due in the European session.

In the New York session, Canada consumer prices and U.S. existing home sales for July are scheduled for release.

At 2:00 pm ET, the Fed release minutes from the July 30-31 meeting.