USD/CAD tumbles to lows, slides back below 1.29 handle

   •  Upbeat Canadian housing data/softer US PPI print prompts aggressive selling.
   •  Bullish oil prices underpin Loonie and further collaborate to the downfall.

The USD/CAD pair extended its retracement slide from an intraday high level of 1.2975 and tumbled below the 1.2900 handle in the last hour.

Against the backdrop of surging crude oil prices, which tends to underpin demand for the commodity-linked currency - Loonie, upbeat Canadian building permits data provided an additional boost to the Canadian Dollar and prompted some aggressive selling during the early NA session. 

Meanwhile, softer US PPI print failed to attract any fresh buying around the US Dollar, which held on to its modest daily losses led by some profit-taking from fresh yearly tops and did little to stall the pair's sharp fall of over 100-pips from daily tops. 

With today's fall, the pair erased all of its previous session's strong gains to 1-1/2 month tops and has now moved farther from the key 1.30 psychological mark as traders now look forward to the EIA's US weekly oil inventories data for some fresh impetus.

Technical levels to watch

A follow-through weakness could get extended but is likely to find strong support at 50-day SMA, currently near the 1.2840-35 region, which if broken could accelerate the slide further towards the 1.2800 handle.

On the upside, momentum back above the 1.2900 handle now seems to confront fresh supply near the 1.2935-40 region, above which the pair is likely to make a fresh attempt towards reclaiming the 1.30 handle.