(Adds analyst quotes, updates prices)
* Canadian dollar ends at C$1.2990, or 76.98 U.S. cents
* Loonie touches its strongest since Monday at C$1.2983
* Bond prices lower across steeper maturity curve
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened by the most in five weeks against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as domestic data showed a jump in exports and oil rose.
Canada's trade deficit in July unexpectedly shrank to C$2.49 billion from a record C$3.97 billion in June as exports jumped by 3.4 percent and imports stagnated. is definitely a breath of fresh air for Canadian trade," said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, who noted strength in export volumes and in non-energy exports.
The Bank of Canada has been counting on an uptick in non-energy exports for the economy to meet its growth projections. However, non-energy exports have been hampered this year by weak U.S. business investment, while a weaker Canadian dollar has not helped exports as much as expected. central bank is likely "to play the wait-and-see game" at next week's interest rate decision as exports show signs of life and the U.S. economy picks up, said Adam Button, currency analyst at ForexLive.
A lack of momentum in Canada's economy has prompted analysts to push their expectations for a rate hike further back to 2018, a Reuters poll found. Canadian dollar CAD=D4 closed at C$1.2990 to the greenback, or 76.98 U.S. cents, stronger than Thursday's close of C$1.3086, or 76.42 U.S. cents.
The currency's weakest level of the session was C$1.3114, while it touched its strongest since Monday at C$1.2983.
For the week, the loonie rose just 0.1 percent.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices settled up $1.28 at $44.44 a barrel as a report showing weaker U.S. jobs growth initially hurt the greenback. O/R
U.S. employment growth slowed more than expected in August. The data could effectively rule out a rate increase from the Federal Reserve this month. raised bullish bets on the Canadian dollar for the second straight week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed. Net long Canadian dollar positions rose to 22,400 contracts in the week ended Aug. 30 from 16,734 contracts in the prior week.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across a steeper maturity curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR bond down 5.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.593 percent and the benchmark 10-year CA10YT=RR falling 55 Canadian cents to yield 1.063 percent.
The Canada-U.S. two-year bond spread narrowed 2.6 basis to -20.1 basis points, while the 10-year spread was 2.7 basis points narrower at -53.8 basis points as Canadian government bonds underperformed.