* Canadian dollar at C$1.1319, or 88.35 U.S. cents
* Bond prices mostly higher across the maturity curve
By Solarina Ho
TORONTO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was softer
against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, tracking weaker oil
prices, and with little else on the domestic calendar this week,
the currency is expected to take its cues from external drivers.
The commodities-linked Canadian dollar has been moving
closer in tandem with the price of crude, a major Canadian
export, and prices have slumped to four-year lows recently on
concerns of an oil glut.
Brent crude fell on Monday after Japan, the world's
fourth-biggest crude importer, slipped into recession and as
Saudi Arabia reiterated the oil price should be left to supply
and demand.
Currency watchers have noted the Canadian dollar has
otherwise performed reasonably well against the greenback
relative to other currencies.
"Generally the data's been quite good in Canada, so I think
that has allowed the Canadian dollar hold its own against what's
been a very pro-U.S. dollar trend over the past number of
weeks," said Don Mikolich, executive director, foreign exchange
sales.
"The U.S. dollar index has been at a four-year high, and yet
the Canadian dollar's been able to retrenched to the C$1.12s and
now slightly into C$1.13s."
At 9:23 a.m. (1423 GMT), the Canadian dollar was
trading at C$1.1319 to the U.S. dollar, or 88.35 U.S. cents,
weaker than Friday's close of C$1.1277, or 88.68 U.S. cents.
Mikolich said the currency was unlikely move much beyond
C$1.1270 and C$1.1360 in the near term.
Investors and market participants will likely seek direction
from a slew of U.S. data due this week, as well as the U.S.
Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday. In Canada, the next major
economic news will be CPI data, due on Friday.
Canadian government bond prices were mostly higher across
the maturity curve, but the two-year bond was flat,
with a yield of 1.008 percent. The benchmark 10-year
was up 11 Canadian cents to yield 2.021 percent.
(Reporting by Solarina Ho Editing by W Simon)