* Canadian dollar at C$1.2237 or 81.72 U.S. cents
* Bond prices mostly lower across the maturity curve
TORONTO, April 22 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar
strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, as the
prices of crude oil, a key Canadian export, edged higher,
underpinned by a softer dolar.
With little domestic economic news on tap this week, the
loonie will remain sidelined, with moves driven largely by the
U.S. dollar and U.S. crude prices.
* At 9:22 a.m. EDT (1322 GMT), the Canadian dollar
was trading at C$1.2237 to the greenback, or 81.72 U.S. cents,
stronger than the Bank of Canada's official close of C$1.2281,
or 81.43 U.S. cents on Monday.
* The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.2208
Its weakest level was C$1.2287.
* U.S. existing home sales data for March is due at 10:00
a.m. EDT.
* U.S. crude prices were up 0.1 percent to $56.66,
while Brent crude added 0.8 percent to $62.59.
* The Canadian dollar, which was outperforming most of its
key currency counterparts except the Australian dollar
and the British pound, will likely trade
between C$1.2215 and C$1.2305 against the U.S. dollar on
Wednesday, according to National Bank Financial Group.
* Canadian government bond prices were mostly lower across
the maturity curve, with the two-year price down 1.5
Canadian cents to yield 0.653 percent and the benchmark 10-year
falling 25 Canadian cents to yield 1.469 percent.
* The Canada-U.S. two-year bond spread was 12.1 basis
points, while the 10-year spread was -45.4.
(Reporting by Solarina Ho)