TORONTO, June 16 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar steadied near a seven-month low against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday as oil prices fell and data showed domestic housing activity picking up.

The loonie was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3995 per U.S. dollar, or 71.45 U.S. cents, after moving in a range of 1.3989 to 1.4018. Last Thursday, the currency touched its weakest level since November at 1.4023.

o The global price of oil, one of Canada's major exports, fell about 6% to a three-month low on optimism that an interim peace deal between the U.S. and Iran would allow oil to flow through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

o "Oil prices coming off seem to be seen as a net negative for the Canadian dollar," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank. "But I think the real story is that we had a pretty soft run of data in Canada in the past few weeks, maybe overstating to some extent how weak the Canadian economy really is in the early part of this year."

o The gap between Canadian and U.S. one-year swap rates has widened by 34 basis points since May to 137 basis points in favor of the U.S. rate.

o "Until that spread narrows, it's probably going to be a bit of a tough slog for the Canadian dollar to do much other than to track the general trend in the U.S. dollar and stay relatively soft," Osborne said.

o Canadian home sales rose 5.5% in May from April, making up some ground after a slow start to the typically active spring market.

o The U.S. dollar edged lower against a basket of major currencies as investors awaited the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Wednesday.

o Canadian bond yields moved lower across the curve as the drop in oil prices reduced inflation risk globally. The 10-year was down 3.3 basis points at 3.380%.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Paul Simao)

By Fergal Smith