CANADA FX DEBT - Canadian dollar weakens, benchmark yield slips

The Canadian dollar weakened against the greenback on Friday, and the yield on benchmark government debt slipped.

The loonie CAD= was trading 0.1% lower at C$1.3688 to the greenback, or 73.06 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.368 to 1.3702.

Canadian government 10-year bond yields CA10YT=RR fell 2.1 basis points to 3.213%. The yield on similar U.S. government benchmark debt fell to 4.0711%.

U.S. March crude CLc1 futures fell 14 cents to $66.29 a barrel on Friday.

Canadian retail sales fell 0.4% in January from December. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to drop 0.5%.Excluding autos, retail sales fell 0.1% in January, Statistics Canada said. Analysts had forecast January sales, excluding autos, to be down 0.3%.