Canadian dollar struggles as weaker oil weighs on commodity currencies

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar struggled near an 11-year low against the greenback on Tuesday as crude oil prices resumed their slide, weighing on commodity currencies.

Prices of both Brent and U.S. crude remained under pressure early on Tuesday after dropping more than 3 percent overnight, reversing a brief rebound as concerns over oversupply returned. [O/R]

The Canadian dollar stood little changed at C$1.3891 to the greenback after losing 0.7 percent overnight, edging back towards an 11-year low of C$1.4003 against the dollar hit earlier this month.

The Australian dollar, another commodity currency, stood little changed at $0.7259 after touching a five-day low of $0.7246.

The U.S. dollar did not fare as well against the euro and safe-haven yen, which has benefited as lower oil has dented investor risk appetite.

The dollar, which has lost some steam against its Japanese counterpart after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates this month, dipped 0.1 percent to 120.26 yen . It edged closer to a two-month low of 120.05 plumbed last week.

"The dollar risks breaking below 120.00 yen if Chinese equities extend their fall and lead to a global weakening in stocks," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

Shanghai shares <.SSEC> suffered their worst loss in a month on Monday.

The euro gained 0.1 percent to $1.0988 . Trading has thinned out as participants have closed out their positions before the year's end, confining the common currency to a narrow $1.0944-1.1000 range over the past three sessions.

(Editing by Kim Coghill)