2017.05.2504:05:00UTC+00Canadian Dollar Climbs On Oil Rally As OPEC Meets

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its most major counterparts in the Asian session on Thursday amid a rally in oil prices, on hopes that the OPEC meeting in Vienna will extend its ongoing output cuts into 2018 to prop up prices.

Crude for July delivery rose $0.36 to $51.73 per barrel.

The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee met on Wednesday, recommending support for an extension of ongoing deal for an additional nine months. If confirmed by all oil ministers from major OPEC and non-OPEC participants, the deal would run through the end of March 2018.

In an accord reached in December, OPEC and 11 non-members agreed to cut oil output by about 1.8 million barrels per day in the first half of 2017.

The currency was also buoyed by rising risk appetite, as Asian shares advanced following the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The minutes from the U.S central bank's May 2-3 policy meeting showed that the Fed would gradually raise rates and wind down its $4.5 trillion of mortgage-backed bond holdings and longer-term U.S. government bonds.

The loonie was higher on Wednesday ahead of the most crucial OPEC meeting of the year.

In Asian trading, the loonie climbed to 83.44 against the yen, its strongest since May 16. If the loonie extends rise, 85.00 is likely seen as its next resistance level.

The loonie spiked up to a 5-week high of 1.3388 against the greenback, compared to 1.3404 hit late New York Wednesday. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 1.32 region.

The loonie edged up to 1.0035 against the aussie, off its early low of 1.0070. Continuation of the loonie's uptrend may see it challenging resistance around the 0.99 area.

On the flip side, the loonie held steady against the euro, after having fallen to 1.5067 early in the Asian session. The pair finished Wednesday's trading at 1.5041.

Looking ahead, U.K. preliminary GDP data for the first quarter is due in the European session.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended May 20, advance goods trade balance and wholesale inventories for April are set for release.

At 10:00 am ET, the Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard participates in a panel discussion titled "A Conversation with former Treasury Under Secretaries for International Affairs," in Washington DC.

At 1:00 pm ET, the European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio gives lecture at Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao (ISEG) Master in Monetary and Financial Economics in Lisbon, Portugal.