The Canadian dollar steadied against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as investors ‌weighed the prospect of talks to end the war in the Middle East, and after domestic data showed a solid increase in retail sales but a more modest rise in sales volumes.

The ​loonie was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3692 per U.S. dollar, or 73.04 ​U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3679 to 1.3714. ⁠For the week, the currency was barely changed, after two straight weekly gains.

Canadian ​retail sales rose 0.7% in February on a monthly basis after increasing 1.1% in ​January, but the increase in sales volumes was much less at 0.3%, while a preliminary estimate showed a gain of 0.6% in March that analysts say was likely flattered by a ​sharp rise in gasoline prices.

"Two months of rising retail sales highlights underlying consumer ​resilience in the face of significant headwinds, namely elevated economic uncertainty and outright population declines," Shelly ‌Kaushik, ⁠a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note.

"Still, softer spending volumes and signs of further weakness in March suggest consumers can only hold on for so long."

The Bank of Canada will hold its overnight rate steady next week and ​through the rest of ​the year, according ⁠to a majority of economists polled by Reuters, most of whom stuck to the same outlook they had before the U.S.-Israeli ​war with Iran.

Peace talks between Iran and the United States ​could resume ⁠soon in Pakistan, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected to arrive on Friday night, three Pakistani sources said.

The safe-haven U.S. dollar edged lower against a basket of ⁠major ​currencies and the price of oil , one of Canada's major ​exports, was trading 0.5% down at $95.36 a barrel.

Canadian government bond yields eased across the curve. The 10-year ​was down 1.9 basis points at 3.466%.