(Adds strategist quote and details throughout, updates prices)
* Canadian dollar falls 0.3% for the week
* Canada's June exports fall 5.1%
* Price of U.S. oil increases by 3.2%
* Bond prices move higher across the yield curve
By Levent Uslu
TORONTO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Friday, with the currency recovering from an earlier six-week low which it hit as trade tensions escalated and after domestic data showed a drop in exports.
Canada posted a narrower trade surplus in June as exports fell by 5.1%. It was the first drop for exports since February and reversed a big increase in May. exports many commodities, including oil, so its economy could be affected by an escalation of trade tensions. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would slap 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese imports starting Sept. 1. the most part I think the markets are digesting the latest trade salvo with regards to the tariffs," said Mazen Issa, a senior FX strategist at TD Securities.
Speculators have cut their bullish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Reuters calculations showed. As of July 30, net long positions had fallen to 21,722 contracts after they reached the highest in the prior week since February 2018 at 30,750. 3:54 p.m. (1954 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3210 to the greenback, or 75.70 U.S. cents. The currency, which fell by 0.3% this week, hit its lowest intraday level since June 20 at 1.3265.
The loonie's recovery from Friday's low came as data showing a slower pace of U.S. employment growth and the U.S.-China trade tensions fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates again in September, pressuring the U.S. dollar .DXY .
Also supportive of the loonie, oil prices rebounded after recording their biggest daily drop in several years the day before. U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 3.2% higher at $55.66 a barrel. government bond prices were higher across the yield curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR up 3.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.459% and the 10-year CA10YT=RR rising 20 Canadian cents to yield 1.376%.
The 10-year yield hit its lowest intraday level since November 2016 at 1.355%.