* Canadian dollar at C$1.2750, or 78.43 U.S. cents
* Bond prices mixed across the maturity curve
TORONTO, June 22 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar
strengthened to a 12-day high against a weaker greenback on
Wednesday as oil rallied and investors grew more optimistic that
Britons would vote to stay in the European Union, while domestic
data showed a rebound in retail sales.
Canadian retail sales rose 0.9 percent in April from March,
mainly on higher gasoline prices, Statistics Canada said. This
follows a 0.8 percent decline in March, a smaller dip than
previously reported. Excluding autos, sales rose 1.3 percent,
stronger than analysts expected.
Supportive of Canada's commodity-linked currency, oil prices
rallied after an industry report showed a large drop in U.S.
crude inventories and as investors' risk appetite increased
ahead of Britain's referendum on EU membership. O/R
U.S. crude CLc1 was up 0.28 percent at $49.99 a barrel.
Riskier markets also drew support after U.S. Federal Reserve
Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday virtually ruled out a July
interest rate hike, while the U.S. dollar .DXY lost ground
against a basket of major currencies.
At 8:54 a.m. EDT (1254 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4
was trading at C$1.2750 to the greenback, or 78.43 U.S. cents,
stronger than Tuesday's close of C$1.2811, or 78.06 U.S. cents.
The currency's weakest level of the session was C$1.2816,
while it touched its strongest since June 10 at C$1.2743.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed across the
maturity curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR up 2 Canadian cents
to yield 0.598 percent and the benchmark 10-year CA10YT=RR
rising 7 Canadian cents to yield 1.244 percent.
On Tuesday, the 10-year yield reached its highest in nearly
three weeks at 1.255 percent.