* Canadian dollar at C$1.2769, or 78.31 U.S. cents
* Bond prices mixed across the maturity curve
TORONTO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Friday after domestic data surprisingly showed economic growth paused in October, muting expectations the central bank might hike rates in January.
The weaker-than-expected gross domestic product data came a day after robust inflation and retail sales data sent the loonie and domestic bond yields sharply higher. currency's retreat also came as prices for oil, a major Canadian export, slipped. O/R
At 8:59 a.m. ET (1359 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading at C$1.2769 to the greenback, or 78.31 U.S. cents, down 0.2 percent. It had hit its strongest level in more than two weeks on Thursday.
The currency is on track for a 0.8 percent rise on the week.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed across a steeper maturity curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR price up 3 Canadian cents to yield 1.662 percent and the 20-year CA20YT=RR down 5 cents to yield 2.212 percent.
The benchmark 10-year CA10YT=RR rose 5 Canadian cents to yield 2.024 percent.
The Canadian dollar was also underperforming most of its key currency counterparts, including the Japanese yen, the euro, and the Australian dollar.