TORONTO, April 27 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as equity markets rallied and investors awaited domestic GDP data, but the currency was holding near its weakest level in more than four weeks.
Wall Street rose as stronger-than-expected corporate earnings offset concerns over slowing U.S. economic growth, while the price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, settled 0.6% higher at $74.76 a barrel.
"The bounce in the stock market and some commodities certainly help (the CAD)," said Erik Bregar, director, FX & precious metals Risk Management at Silver Gold Bull. "But all in all I think a pretty rough week so far given all those negative headlines coming out of First Republic Bank."
First Republic Bank (FRC.N) disclosed on Monday that it lost more than half its deposits during last month's banking crisis, spooking investors.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.3% higher at 1.3595 to the greenback, or 73.56 U.S. cents. On Wednesday, it touched its weakest intraday level since March 28 at 1.3651.
Canadian payroll employment rose by 62,500 in February, data from Statistics Canada showed. GDP data for the same month, due on Friday, is expected to show a gain of 0.2%.
The Bank of Canada did not hike interest rates earlier this month because it wanted to see more evidence of the effects of previous monetary tightening on growth and inflation, minutes from the policy meeting showed on Wednesday.
Canadian inflation excluding food and energy costs is expected to remain above 3% until the fourth quarter of this year, the median forecast of seven economists recently surveyed by Reuters showed, which could dash hopes of an early BoC shift to cutting interest rates.
Canadian bond yields were higher across the curve on Thursday, tracking moves in U.S. Treasuries. The 10-year climbed 9.5 basis points to 2.961%.
