* Canadian dollar falls 0.1% against the greenback
* Bank of Canada cuts benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points
* Price of U.S. oil decreases 0.9%
* Canada's bond yields mixed across a steeper curve
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday as the Bank of Canada delivered its biggest interest rate cut in more than 10 years and signaled it was ready to ease further because of the coronavirus outbreak.
At 4:19 p.m. (2119 GMT), the Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading 0.1% lower at 1.3393 to the greenback, or 74.67 U.S. cents. The currency traded in a range of 1.3330 to 1.3432.
"All eyes were on the Bank of Canada today," said Andrew Sierocinski, a foreign exchange analyst at Klarity FX in San Francisco.
The loonie weakened because the Bank of Canada chose to match the previous day's 50-basis-points interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and signaled it was ready to ease further, Sierocinski said.
The central bank said the virus outbreak was "a material negative shock" to the Canadian and global outlooks as it slashed its benchmark interest rate to 1.25% from 1.75%. It was the first time since March 2009, during the global financial crisis, that it had cut by more than 25 basis points.
"The virus is expected to take a greater toll on Canada's economy than the U.S.'s due to weaker commodity prices and less underlying strength," Sal Guatieri, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note.
"Lower rates are no vaccine, but they can partially treat the symptoms of the virus by supporting confidence and shoring up financial conditions," Guatieri said.
Canada is prepared to act quickly to help companies hurt financially by the outbreak of the new coronavirus and would not need to wait for the next budget, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Tuesday. price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, gave up early gains as major oil producers struggled to bring Russia on board for deeper supply cuts to try to offset a slump in demand caused by the virus outbreak. U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 0.9% lower at $46.78 a barrel. government bond yields were mixed across a steeper yield curve. The two-year CA2YT=RR fell 5.4 basis points to 0.927%, while the 10-year CA10YT=RR was up 2.8 basis points at 0.992%. Earlier in the session, the 10-year yield touched a record low at 0.857%
Canadian labor productivity fell by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, as both hours worked and business output were little changed, Statistics Canada said.