* Canadian dollar at C$1.3906 or 71.91 U.S. cents
* Bond prices higher across the maturity curve
TORONTO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened
against its U.S. counterpart, together with broader losses for
commodity currencies after a 7-percent drop in Chinese shares
triggered a flight to safe-haven assets.
Chinese factory activity contracted for the 10th month
running in December adding to headwinds for
commodity exporters such as Canada.
A spike in Middle East tensions helped send crude oil prices
higher although overshadowed by the reduction in
risk appetite.
U.S. crude CLc1 prices were up 1.54 percent to $37.61 a
barrel, while Brent crude LCOc1 added 2.33 percent to
$38.15. O/R
At 8:58 a.m. EST (1358 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4
was trading at C$1.3906 to the greenback, or 71.91 U.S. cents,
weaker than Thursday's close of C$1.3840, or 72.25 U.S. cents.
The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3815,
while its weakest level was C$1.3940. It had hit its weakest
level in more than 11 years on Dec. 18 at C$1.4003.
The loonie, as Canada's currency is colloquially known,
weakened by 16 percent in 2015, its worst performance since the
global financial crisis of 2008.
Bank of Canada Governor Poloz will speak on Jan. 7 in
Ottawa, the last scheduled appearance by a Bank of Canada
policymaker before the release of the interest rate announcement
and Monetary Policy Report on Jan. 20.
The market has been leaning toward further rate cuts in the
face of depressed crude oil prices and loss of momentum for
growth.
Canadian government bond prices were higher across the
maturity curve on the flight to quality, with the two-year
CA2YT=RR price up 3.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.461 percent
and the benchmark 10-year CA10YT=RR rising 31 Canadian cents
to yield 1.363 percent.
The curve flattened, as the spread between the 2-year and
10-year yields narrowed by 1.7 basis points to 90.2 basis
points, indicating outperformance for longer-dated maturities.
The Canada-U.S. 10-year spread was 1.6 basis points narrower
at -86.2 basis points as Treasuries outperformed.
In data, the RBC manufacturing PMI for December is due for
release at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT). November trade data is
scheduled for Wednesday and the December employment report is
awaited on Friday.