CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar sticks to narrow range ahead of domestic GDP data

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar steadied against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, with the currency unable to take advantage of improved risk appetite as investors awaited domestic GDP data at the end of the week.

The loonie CAD= was trading nearly unchanged at 1.4105 per U.S. dollar, or 70.90 U.S. cents, after moving in a narrow range of 1.4092 to 1.4118. Earlier this month, the currency touched a seven-month low at 1.4140.

"It's a lack of positive news for Canada at this point," said Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco. "We've got Canadian GDP coming out on Friday. I don't think anyone is expecting a big beat there."

Analysts forecast that Canada's economy grew at an annualized rate of 0.5% in the third quarter, which would be an outcome that narrowly avoids a second-straight quarterly contraction.

A preliminary estimate on Monday showed that Canadian factory sales fell 1.1% in October from September, largely driven by lower sales in the chemical and wood product subsectors.

Canada's economy has been held back this year by trade uncertainty. The nation will resume trade discussions with the United States "when it's appropriate," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday.

Moves in the loonie have become "asymmetric," Sahota said, adding that the currency "doesn't take its opportunities on days when high-beta FX should do a little better."

High-beta currencies tend to be sensitive to shifts in investor sentiment.

Wall Street rallied and the price of oil CLc1, one of Canada's major exports, settled 1.3% higher at $58.84 a barrel as growing bets on a Federal Reserve rate cut in December fueled risk-taking.

Canadian government bond yields moved lower across the curve, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year CA10YT=RR was down 2.6 basis points at 3.177%.