* Canadian dollar at 1.2953 to greenback, or 77.20 U.S. cents
* Price of U.S. oil rises 0.3 percent
* Canada's 10-year yield touches 4-month high at 2.472 percent
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, shrugging off news on NAFTA trade talks as the performance of the greenback became the key driver of the currency before an expected interest rate hike by the U.S. Fed.
At 4:01 p.m. (2001 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading nearly unchanged at 1.2953 to the greenback, or 77.20 U.S. cents.
The currency, which last Thursday touched its strongest level in more than three months at 1.2885, traded in a narrow range of 1.2936 to 1.2973.
"It is not really the marginal NAFTA news flow that is driving it," said Ranko Berich, head of market analysis at Monex Canada and Monex Europe. "It is more general trends in G10 currencies and particularly the U.S. dollar and how the G10 is performing against the U.S. dollar."
Most other major currencies were also little changed against the greenback .DXY , ahead of the interest rate decision on Wednesday by the Federal Reserve. is not making concessions needed to reach a deal with the United States for a trilateral NAFTA pact and is running out of time before Washington proceeds with a Mexico-only agreement, a top U.S. official said. are seeing the market impact of those types of statements begin to decay," Berich said.
He expects a deal to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement will be reached over the next six months.
As the month-end deadline for North American trade talks nears, Canadian executives who hedge foreign exchange risk have been changing their strategies so their companies can profit from any possible swings in the Canadian dollar. price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, was boosted by global supply concerns following U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports, but pared its gains after U.S. President Donald Trump called again on OPEC to boost crude output. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 0.3 percent higher at $72.28 a barrel.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across the yield curve in sympathy with U.S. Treasuries, with the 10-year CA10YT=RR falling 10 Canadian cents to yield 2.462 percent.
The 10-year yield touched its highest intraday level since May 22 at 2.472 percent.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is due to speak on Thursday, while Canada's gross domestic product data for July is due on Friday.