CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar posts biggest monthly gain in 10 years on US tariff pivot

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, April 30 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened to a six-month high against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday and posted its biggest monthly advance in a decade, helped by the recent cooling in global trade tensions and the end of domestic political uncertainty.

The loonie CAD= was trading 0.3% higher at 1.3788 per U.S. dollar, or 72.53 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since October 17 at 1.3777.

For the month, the currency was up 4.3%, its third-straight monthly advance and its biggest since April 2015.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is looking to make a trade deal and will visit the White House within the next week.

"Trump's pivot on tariffs on every country but China and the pricing in of a Carney win in the Federal election" drove gains this month for the loonie, said Tony Valente, a senior FX dealer at AscendantFX.

The victory for Carney, a former central banker, in Monday's election removed uncertainty for the market, Valente said, adding "he was a known commodity in the realm of international commerce."

Trump abruptly paused part of his tariff assault on global trading partners earlier this month even as he hiked new tariffs on Chinese goods.

Canadian gross domestic product was down 0.2% in February from January, with goods-producing industries driving the decline. Preliminary estimates showed a gain of 0.1% in March and annualized first-quarter growth of 1.5%.

The Bank of Canada discussed whether to cut rates again earlier this month but decided not to given the uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs, minutes of discussions showed.

The price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, settled 3.7% lower at $58.21 a barrel.

Canadian bond yields moved lower across the curve. The 10-year CA10YT=RR was down 5.8 basis points at 3.076%, its lowest level since April 17.