The crude oil commodity market continues to be shrouded in gloom with a significant drop in crude oil prices this week.
At the opening of the market earlier in the week, the crude oil market initially appeared reassuring with the news of the easing of restrictions on movement in key locations in China after the pressure of protests a few weeks ago.
However, several other factors emerged to cloud the global crude oil trade again.
Among them is the tension between Europe and Russia when the G7 group that limits the oil price level of $60 per barrel for Russian crude oil is not agreed by Vladimir Putin.
In addition, service sector activity in China reportedly fell to a 6-month low which is seen to affect demand for oil supplies.
Currently the US dollar continues to strengthen in the market and pressure the Canadian dollar to trade weakly while investors await the results of the Canadian central bank (BOC) meeting shortly.
Looking at the price chart of the USD/CAD currency pair, the price has jumped almost 300 pips since the beginning of the week until yesterday.
The price rally started from the 1.34000 support level when it was briefly tested at the beginning of the week, then headed back to the resistance zone last week.
As of yesterday's New York session, the price has reached a recent high of around 1.36700 which makes the price the highest in 5 weeks.
The rise is expected to go higher to continue the bullish trend when the price is still above the Moving Average 50 (MA50) support level on the 1-hour time frame on the USD/CAD chart.
The target for a higher move is to head towards the highs of 1.38000 after the price last touched that level in early November.
However, if the price returns to show a fall again, the initial focus seen to be the price is at the 1.35000 zone.
After signaling a change to the bearish trend, the price is likely to drop lower towards the 1.34000 support level.
