CANADA FX DEBT-Canadian dollar holds near 11-day high as investors dismiss US bridge threat

By Fergal Smith

TORONTO, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar steadied near an 11-day high against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as investors shrugged off tensions between the United States and Canada over a new bridge opening.

The loonie CAD= was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3550 per U.S. dollar, or 73.80 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since January 30 at 1.3524.

Canada and the United States will resolve the issue of a $4.7 billion bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, that U.S. President Donald Trump is unhappy about, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters.

Trump threatened to bar the new bridge opening in his latest salvo against Canada over trade issues, which drew significant alarm among elected officials in Michigan.

"The market isn't taking this latest threat seriously at all," said Adam Button, chief currency analyst at investingLive, adding that investors doubt that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a continental trade pact, will be discontinued and expect Canada to benefit from a commodities boom.

"We're really at the leading edge of an investment cycle into raw materials and that's going to mean building mines in Canada and developing natural resources. Those are huge FX flows," Button said.

Gold XAU= gave back some recent gains ahead of U.S. jobs and inflation data that could offer further clues to the Federal Reserve's interest-rate outlook, while the price of oil CLc1 was trading 0.8% lower at $63.84 a barrel.

Canadian bond yields moved lower across the curve, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries after economic data, including retail sales, suggested the American economy may be softening. The 10-year CA10YT=RR was down 3.3 basis points at 3.366%.