CANADA FX DEBT - Canadian dollar strengthens, benchmark yield slips

The Canadian dollar strengthened against the greenback on Thursday, and the yield on benchmark government debt slipped.

The loonie CAD= was trading 0.3% higher at C$1.419 to the greenback, or 70.47 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of 1.4171 to 1.4239.

Canadian government 10-year bond yields CA10YT=RR fell 4.6 basis points to 3.832%. The yield on similar U.S. government benchmark debt fell to 5.0871%.

U.S. November crude CLc1 futures rose $2.88 to settle at $97.97 a barrel on Thursday.

Canadian factory sales rose 1.5% in August from the previous month, Statistics Canada said. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected factory sales growth of 1.1%.