* Canadian dollar weakens 0.2% against the greenback
* Oil rises rise
* Canadian bond yields modestly higher across the curve
By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
April 12 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged down against
its U.S. counterpart on Monday, unwinding some of the gains
logged in the previous session, but buoyant oil prices helped
keep the currency near recent highs.
At 9:52 a.m. EST (1352 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading
0.2% lower at 1.2553 to the greenback, or 79.66 U.S. cents.
The loonie had risen 0.3% on Friday after data showed Canada
added far more jobs than expected in March, bringing employment
to within 1.5% of pre-pandemic levels.
Investors' expectation for a continued rise in U.S. Treasury
yields has been supportive of the greenback, helping keep the
Canadian dollar from breaking above the three-year high of
$1.2361 touched in mid-March.
"Friday's stellar jobs data should not be far from
investors' minds and while we expect some of the jump in jobs to
be unwound this month as a result of Ontario's lockdown moves,
the trend in jobs and progress on access to vaccines should
provide policy makers with enough confidence in the outlook to
at least signal a move towards tapering asset purchases at the
April 21st policy decision," Shaun Osborne, chief currency
strategist at Scotiabank, said in a note.
"We look for the Canadian dollar to remain better supported
on dips and to make a bit more progress in the short run back
towards a $1.24 handle," Osborne said.
On Monday, a rise in the price of oil, one of Canada's main
exports, helped the loonie fend off deeper losses against its
U.S. counterpart.
Canadian government bond yields were modestly higher across
the curve, with the 10-year trading at 1.518%, not far from its
close on Friday at 1.5%.
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
