* Canadian dollar rises 0.4% against the greenback
* Loonie trades in a range of 1.4081 to 1.4261
* Price of U.S. oil decreases 3.5%
* Canadian bond yields rise across the curve
TORONTO, April 6 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday as signs of a slowdown in coronavirus-related deaths bolstered investors sentiment, offsetting lower oil prices.
Stocks globally .WORLD rose as the death toll from the virus slowed across major European nations including France and Italy. runs a current account deficit and is a major producer of commodities, including oil, so the loonie tends to be sensitive to the global flow of trade and capital.
U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 were down 3.5% at $27.35 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia delayed a meeting to discuss output cuts that could help to reduce global oversupply. 9:01 a.m. (1301 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading 0.4% higher at 1.4138 to the greenback, or 70.73 U.S. cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.4081 to 1.4261.
Speculators have cut their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. As of March 31, net short positions had fallen to 21,929 contracts from 29,245 in the prior week.
The Bank of Canada is due to release the spring issue of the Business Outlook Survey at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT). To support Canada's economy and the financial system during the virus outbreak, the central bank has slashed interest rates to 0.25%, embraced quantitative easing for the first time, buying government bonds in large quantities, and introduced a gamut of liquidity measures.
Those liquidity measures could be helping, with the one-month rate for bankers' acceptances, a key funding market, falling on Monday for the seventh straight day to 1.13%.
Still, the number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada jumped by just over 20% to 258 in a day, officials said on Sunday, while Ottawa offered full-time jobs to reservists in the armed forces. government bond yields rose across the curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year was up 2.4 basis points at 0.737%.