* Canadian dollar gains 0.2% against the greenback
* Loonie touches a 10-day high at 1.3232
* Canadian July average weekly earnings rise 2.7% year-over-year
* Canadian bond prices climb across a flatter yield curve
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened to a 10-day high against the greenback on Thursday as investors grew more optimistic on trade talks between the United States and China and after domestic data showed a pick up in employee earnings.
At 9:11 a.m. (1311 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading 0.2% higher at 1.3244 to the greenback, or 75.51 U.S. cents. The currency touched its strongest intraday level since Sept. 16 at 1.3232.
Canadian average weekly earnings rose by 2.7% year-over-year in July after a 2.1% gain in June, while the number of non-farm payroll employees increased by 75,400, data from Statistics Canada showed.
Stronger-than-expected wholesale trade and payrolls data "should have forecasts for next week's monthly GDP release moving up into positive territory and keeping Q3 tracking around the 2% mark," Royce Mendes, a senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, said in a note.
Data on Monday showed that Canadian wholesale trade increased by 1.7% in July from June, surprising economists who had forecast a 0.1% decrease.
Meanwhile, global stocks .WORLD rose on Wednesday as Beijing said it in close communication with the United States and was preparing to make progress with their trade talks in October. exports many commodities, including oil, so its economy could benefit from an improved outlook for global trade.
Still, moves by Saudi Arabia to restore output quickly after attacks on its oil installations offset optimism on trade, with U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 falling 0.9% to $55.98 a barrel. government bond prices were higher across a flatter yield curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR up 4 Canadian cents to yield 1.574% and the 10-year CA10YT=RR rising 32.6 Canadian cents to yield 1.370%.
On Wednesday, the 10-year yield hit its lowest intraday level since Sept. 6 at 1.289%.