* C$ at C$1.0047 or 99.53 U.S. cents
* Bonds mixed across the curve
TORONTO, April 30 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar rose slightly against its U.S. counterpart on Friday as commodity prices strengthened and expectations Greece will soon receive emergency aid helped to ease fears about how Athens will pay its debts.
But trading was mostly range-bound as currency markets held their breath ahead of a reading of Canada's February gross domestic product and first-quarter U.S. figures, both due at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT).
"The Canadian GDP is bit a dated and it's the monthly so perhaps people will discount it but it's always has the ability to move things if the number comes in far off the expected 0.3 percent month over month," said Sacha Tihanyi, a currency strategist at Scotia Capital.
For the U.S., the median Reuters forecast is for first-quarter growth of 3.4 percent, down from 5.6 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2009.
At 7:56 a.m. (1156 GMT), the Canadian dollar was
at C$1.0047 to the U.S. dollar, or 99.53 U.S. cents, slightly
higher than Thursday's finish at C$1.0054 to the U.S. dollar,
or 99.46 U.S. cents. Earlier, the currency touched a high of
C$1.0015 to the U.S. dollar, or 99.85 U.S. cents."The Canadian dollar is holding in quite well in recent sessions despite some weakness and now with easing of fears in Europe on the potential announcement of an austerity package and money being given to Greece, it's really the euro show today," Tihanyi added.
The euro extending gains against the greenback as sources familiar with the Greece aid talks said officials were expected to announce details of the multi-billion-euro package by Monday.[FRX/]
In addition, oil prices rose towards $86 and gold hit a 2010 high, which also could boost Canada's commodity-linked currency. [O/R] [GOL/]
Tihanyi said markets remain focused on the Canadian dollar's parity level against the U.S. currency.
"After the big move on Tuesday, we're just kind of making that ground back up and that's probably going to be constrained somewhat."
Canada's dollar shot to one-for-one footing with the U.S. currency on Tuesday after the Bank of Canada abandoned its conditional commitment to keep rates steady until the end of June.
Canadian bond prices were mixed across the curve as U.S. Treasuries traded sideways ahead of the GDP data and relative calm in the euro zone debt market also keeping prices stable. [US/]
The two-year Canadian government bond was up 7 Canadian cents to C$99.165 to yield 1.965 percent, while the 10-year bond was 12 Canadian cents to C$98.120 to yield 3.726 percent. (Reporting by Claire Sibonney; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio) claire.sibonney@reuters.com; +1 416 941 8142; ReutersMessaging: claire.sibonney.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ============================================================== FOR CANADIAN MARKETS NEWS, CLICK ON CODES IN BRACKETS: Canadian dollar and bonds report....[CAD/][CA/] TSX market report..........[.TO] Headlines from global forex markets ...[FXNEWS] Bank of Canada stories.....[BOC] Bank of Canada weekly t-bill auction...[CA/BIL] Bank of Canada securities auctions.....[CA/AUC] Bank of Canada interest rate story.....[CA/INT] Reuters monthly Canadian dollar poll.. [CAD/POLL] Canadian interest rate poll...........[CA/POLL] Reuters G7 quarterly economy poll....[ECILT/CA] Weekly economic data poll..............[ECI/CA] Reuters global stocks poll (Canada)... [EPOLL/CA] New Canadian debt issues..............[CAN-TNC] Top News: Canada ......[TOP/CAN] Today in Canada.......[CA/DIARY] Canadian debt and money news ....[D-CAN][M-CAN] FOR CANADIAN MARKETS DATA, CLICK ON CODES IN BRACKETS: Real-time Canadian economic RICS....... Canadian dollar quote............ Canadian bonds quote.......<0#CABMK=><0#CATSY=> Canadian money market quote...<0#CAMMKT=> New Canadian debt issues............ Canada-Treasury spread rates........<CA/SPREAD> Canadian Debt and Forex speed guide...........<CA/DEBT><CAD/1> Canadian Equities speed guide.......<CA/EQUITY> S&P/TSX Composite index .............. FOR MAIN GLOBAL MARKET DATA AND MARKET REPORTS: FTSE Eurotop 300 ..... European report .......[.EU] Nikkei 225............. Tokyo report............[.T] FTSE 100............... London report...........[.L] Xetra DAX............. Frankfurt market stories[.F] CAC-40.. Paris market stories...[.PA] World Indices.......<0#.INDEX> Global markets report.............[MKTS/GLOB] Foreign exchange........[FRX/] Non-deliverable forward currencies ....[NDFW] Oil.......[O/R] US Treasuries........... [US/] International bonds.....[EUB/] Gold.........[GOL/X] or [GOL/] CRB index of commodity futures.........[CRB/] All spots Tokyo spots Europe spots Volatilities Tokyo Forex market info from BOJ World central bank news [CEN] Economic Forecasts... Official rates...[INT/RATE] Forex Diary.......[MI/DIARY] Top events........[M/DIARY] Diaries...........[DIARY] Diaries Index........[IND/DIARY] Press Digests.....[PRESS] Polls on G7 economies..[SURVEY/]
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