The Canadian dollar strengthened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Thursday, as oil prices rose after news that Saudi Arabia and its allies began airstrikes on Yemen. Crude oil for May delivery are currently up $1.74 to $50.95 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies launched air strikes on Yemen Wednesday against Houthi fighters who have tightened their grip on the the nearby port city of Aden, where the country's president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi had taken refuge. The development threatened the security of oil shipments from the Middle East.

Oil prices also found support with the dollar weakening against a basket of major currencies after disappointing durable goods data from the U.S.

In the Asian trading today, the Canadian dollar rose to a 6-day high of 0.9759 against the Australian dollar, from yesterday's closing value of 0.9815. The loonie may test resistance near the 0.96 region.

Against the U.S. dollar, the yen and the euro, the loonie edged up to 1.2479, 95.56 and 1.3700 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.2517, 95.42 and 1.3730, respectively. If the loonie extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.23 against the greenback, 96.90 against the yen and 1.33 against the euro.

Looking ahead, German Gfk consumer confidence for April, Swiss KOF Spring economic forecast and Eurozone M3 money supply and U.K. retail sales- both for February are due to be released in the European session.

At 4:35 am ET, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard is expected to give OMFIF Public Lecture on the economy and monetary policy in Frankfurt.

In the New York session, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended March 21 and Markit's U.S. PMI reports for March are slated for release.

At 9:00 am ET, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart will deliver a speech about the economic outlook and monetary policy at the Engage International Investment Education Symposium in Detroit.

Subsequently, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi will address the Italian parliament's finance and EU policy committees in Rome at 9:15 am ET. After 15 minutes, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is expected to speak at the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce in London.

At 1:30 pm ET, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will hold a press conference about his role as Chair of the Financial Stability Board, in Frankfurt. After half-an-hour, Swiss National Bank member Fritz Zurbrugg will deliver a speech about monetary policy after the cap at the Money Market Event in Zurich.

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