* Canadian dollar at C$1.2088 or 82.73 U.S. cents * Bond prices mixed across the maturity curve TORONTO, May 11 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar was little changed against its U.S. counterpart on Monday and was awaiting direction from U.S. dollar and crude price moves as there was little domestic news to drive it until later this week. Overseas, the Chinese central bank cut interest rates for the third time in six months in an effort to bolster an economy that was sputtering toward its worst year in a quarter century. * At 9:17 a.m. EDT (1317 GMT), the Canadian dollar was at C$1.2088 to the greenback, or 82.73 U.S. cents, little changed from the Bank of Canada's official close of C$1.2090, or 82.71 U.S. cents, on Friday. * The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.2080 Its weakest level was C$1.2144. * U.S. crude prices were up 0.15 percent at $59.48, while Brent crude lost 0.55 percent to $65.03. * The Canadian dollar, which was outperforming most of its key currency counterparts, is expected to trade between C$1.2050 and C$1.2150 against the U.S. dollar on Monday, according to KnightsbridgeFX.com. * Canadian government bond prices were mixed across the maturity curve with longer-term bonds lower. The two-year price was down 2.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.675 percent and the benchmark 10-year fell 43 Canadian cents to yield 1.744 percent. * The Canada-U.S. two-year bond spread was 9.1 basis points, while the 10-year spread was -43.3 basis points. (Reporting by Solarina Ho; Editing by Peter Galloway)