* C$ at 1.0324 vs U.S. dollar, or 96.86 U.S. cents
* Bond prices mixed
By Allison Martell
TORONTO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar gained
against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday after strong economic
data out of China took thin volume summer markets by surprise.
Canada's currency strengthened by nearly a full cent after
China reported both exports and imports rose more than expected,
easing fears that a slowdown in the world's second-largest
economy could threaten global growth.
"Investors seem to have put an inordinate amount of faith in
one month's trade data from China," said Shaun Osborne, chief
currency strategist at TD Securities.
China is the top consumer of many raw materials, so its
fortunes have a big impact on commodity prices, and Canada's
currency tends to move with commodity prices because of its
significant mining and oil and gas industries.
It ended the North American session at 1.0324 to the U.S.
dollar, or 96.86 U.S. cents, compared with C$1.0423, or 95.94
U.S. cents, at Wednesday's close.
Mark Chandler, head of Canadian fixed-income and currency
strategy at Royal Bank of Canada, said concerns about weaker
growth in Asian economies "got some reprieve with the import
data from China."
But he also said light-volume trading likely exaggerated the
Canadian dollar's gains. "Markets have been pretty thin."
When trading volumes are light, financial markets are often
more volatile.
Prices for Canadian government debt were mixed, with the
two-year bond up half a Canadian cent to yield 1.142
percent, and the benchmark 10-year bond rising 4
Canadian cents to yield 2.499 percent.