Canadian Dollar Rises Amid Risk Appetite

The Canadian dollar advanced against its most major counterparts in early European deals on Thursday amid risk appetite, as European shares rose on upbeat earnings and investors await the European Central Bank's rate decision and President Mario Draghi's press conference for clues as to whether the central bank will begin paring stimulus measures.

The ECB is widely expected to keep all its three interest rates unchanged for an eleventh consecutive policy session and retain its asset purchases that are set to run until the end of the year.

The UK's Brexit Secretary David Davis and the EU's Michel Barnier will meet in Brussels, where they discuss developments on the past four days of Brexit talks.

Talks are aimed to scope out points of difference on a wide range of topics, but significant gaps on the so-called "divorce bill" are emerging as the key barrier.

Investors also focus on U.S. reports on weekly jobless claims, leading economic indicators and Philadelphia-area manufacturing activity slated for release later in the day.

The loonie fell against its major rivals in the Asian session, with the exception of the yen.

Reversing from an early low of 1.4539 against the euro, the loonie recovered to 1.4510. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 1.44 region.

Data from the European Central Bank showed that the euro area current account surplus increased in May largely driven by trade surplus and primary income.

The current account surplus increased to EUR 30.1 billion in May from 23.5 billion in April.

The loonie strengthened to a 2-day high of 89.04 against the yen, compared to Wednesday's closing value of 88.77. If the loonie extends rise, 92.00 is likely seen as its next resistance level.

Data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that Japan's all industry activity declined at a faster-than-expected pace in May, after rebounding in the prior month.

The all industry activity fell a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent month-over-month in May, reversing a 2.3 percent rise in April. That was just above the 0.8 percent drop economists had expected.

The loonie, having fallen to a new 3-week low of 1.0057 against the aussie at 9:30 pm ET, reversed direction and rose to a 2-day high of 0.9974. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 0.98 area.

On the flip side, the loonie dropped to 1.2634 against the greenback, from a high of 1.2591 hit at 9:30 pm ET. On the downside, the loonie may find support around the 1.28 mark.

Looking ahead, the European Central Bank is set to announce its interest rate decision at 7:45 am ET. The bank is expected to keep its refi rate at zero percent and the deposit rate at -0.4 percent. The announcement will be followed by a press conference at 8:30 am ET.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended July 15, U.S. leading indicators for June, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing index for July, and Eurozone consumer confidence index for July are slated for release.