* Oil prices fall for fifth day to lowest in a year
* Canadian govt bond prices rise across the maturity curve (New throughout)
By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
Feb 27 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged lower to hit a fresh six-month low against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as oil prices fell for a fifth straight day on a rise in new coronavirus cases outside China that fueled fears of a pandemic.
At 8:52 a.m. EST (1352 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading down about 0.02% at 1.3366 to the greenback, or 74.82 U.S. cents.
Oil prices fell nearly 3% on Thursday to their lowest since January 2019 as rising new coronavirus cases outside China fueled fears of a pandemic that could slow the global economy and dent demand for crude. Oil is one of Canada's major exports. number of new infections in China - the source of the epidemic - was for the first time overtaken by new cases elsewhere on Wednesday, raising fears that the outbreak could become a pandemic. reported hundreds of new cases, Brazil confirmed Latin America's first infection and the new disease - COVID-19 - was also detected for the first time in Pakistan, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Romania and Algeria.
"While U.S.-Canadian interest rate differentials continue to move against the U.S. dollar, weaker crude oil prices are a clear headwind for the Canadian dollar," Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto, said in a note.
Canada's current account deficit narrowed to C$8.76 billion ($6.56 billion) in the fourth quarter from a revised C$10.86 billion deficit in the third quarter, on a lower trade deficit on goods, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. government bond prices rose across the maturity curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR price up 0.111 Canadian cent to yield 1.264% and the benchmark 10-year CA10YT=RR rising 0.632 Canadian cents to yield 1.15%.