By Fergal Smith
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, holding near an earlier five-day high as optimism that a trade deal would be reached between the United States and China helped support global stocks.
World shares made another push for an all-time high after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington and Beijing were in the final throes of inking an initial trade deal.
The Bank of Canada, which will make a policy decision next week, has expressed concern about the impact of trade conflicts on Canada's commodity-linked economy.
The central bank is now expected to hold rates through to the end of next year, according to a slim majority of economists in a Reuters poll, with forecasts on whether or not the central bank holds or cuts sitting on a knife's edge through 2020.
At 9:18 a.m. (1418 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3270 to the greenback, or 75.36 U.S. cents. The currency touched its strongest intraday level since Nov. 22 at 1.3261.
The five-day high for the loonie came after Canada's longest railroad strike in a decade ended on Tuesday. Canadian National Railway Co (TO:CNR) reached a tentative agreement with workers, but shippers warned it could take weeks before service bounces back to normal.
The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, fell as an industry report showing a surprise boost in U.S. crude inventories. U.S. crude oil futures (CLc1) were down 0.3% at $58.24 a barrel.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across a steeper yield curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries after data showed that new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods increased by the most in nine months in October.
The two-year (CA2YT=RR) fell 4 Canadian cents to yield 1.589% and the 10-year (CA10YT=RR) was down 33 Canadian cents to yield 1.477%.