* Canadian dollar rises 0.1% against the greenback
* Loonie touches its strongest since March 1 at 1.3142
* Price of U.S. oil increases 2.7%
* Canadian bond prices fall across the yield curve
TORONTO, June 26 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened to a near four-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday as oil prices rose and investors became more optimistic that the United States and China would strike a trade deal.
U.S. stocks rose after comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin fueled optimism that the United States and China would strike a trade deal. has its own trade issues with China. Still, it is a major exporter of commodities, including oil, so its economy could benefit from reduced uncertainty for global trade.
The price of oil was buoyed by an outage at a major refinery on the U.S. East Coast and industry data that showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected. U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 were up 2.7% at $59.40 a barrel 9:40 a.m. (1340 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading 0.1% higher at 1.3154 to the greenback, or 76.02 U.S. cents. The currency touched its strongest intraday level since March 1 at 1.3142.
The loonie rose even as China said it wants the Canadian government to stop allowing meat shipments to China after bogus export certificates were discovered. government bond prices were lower across the yield curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries, with the two-year CA2YT=RR down 3 Canadian cents to yield 1.419% and the 10-year CA10YT=RR falling 21 Canadian cents to yield 1.457%.
Canadian gross domestic product data for April is due for release on Friday.