* Canadian dollar at C$1.2549, or 79.69 U.S. cents
* Loonie touches its weakest since Dec. 20 at C$1.2590
* Bond prices mixed across a steeper yield curve
TORONTO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar steadied against the greenback on Thursday after hitting a nearly two-week low earlier in the session as investors weighed chances of a Bank of Canada interest rate hike next week and worried about a U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA.
At 9:20 a.m. EST (1420 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was little changed at C$1.2549 to the greenback, or 79.69 U.S. cents. The currency touched its weakest level since Dec. 29 at C$1.2590.
The United States must be taken seriously when it says it might walk away from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada's foreign minister said, a day after government sources said Ottawa was increasingly convinced U.S. President Donald Trump would pull the plug on the trade pact. of an interest rate hike next week, which had climbed on recent strong employment figures, have slipped to around 70 percent from nearly 90 percent on Monday, data from the overnight index swaps market showed. BOCWATCH
The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, reached multiyear highs despite warnings that a 13 percent rally since early December was close to running its course. crude CLc1 was up 0.41 percent at $63.83 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar .DXY fell against a basket of major currencies after the European Central Bank said it could revisit its policy message in early 2018, boosting the euro. new home prices edged up 0.1 percent in November from October, boosted by gains in Ottawa, data from Statistics Canada showed. Prices were unchanged in a number of other markets, including the major city of Toronto. government bond prices were mixed across a steeper yield curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR up 0.1 Canadian cent to yield 1.763 percent and the 10-year CA10YT=RR falling 16 Canadian cents to yield 2.184 percent.
On Wednesday, the 10-year yield reached its highest intraday since September 2014 at 2.231 percent.