MONEY IN BRIEF

Currencies

These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Friday. Quotations in Canadian funds. Australia dollar Brazil real China renminbi Euro Hong Kong dollar India rupee Indonesia rupiah Japan yen Malaysia ringgit Mexico peso N.Z. dollar Norway krone Peruvian new sol Russia rouble Saudi riyal Singapore dollar South Africa rand South Korean won Sweden krona Switzerland franc Taiwanese dollar Thailand baht Turkey lira U.K. pound U.S. dollar

Vietnam dong 0.9893 0.3535 0.2046 1.5503 0.1696 0.01961 0.000095 0.01210 0.3325 0.06620 0.9190 0.1643 0.4071 0.02115 0.3549 0.9797 0.09898 0.001196 0.1503 1.3453 0.04390 0.04042 0.2842 1.7657 1.3308 0.000058

Financial highlights

Highlights at the close Friday at world financial market trading. Stocks:

S&P/TSX Composite Index - 16,450.14, up 114.99 points (record high)

Dow - 24,580.89, up 119.19 points

S&P 500 - 2,754.88, up 5.12 points Nasdaq - 7,692.82, down 20.13 points

Currencies:

Cdn - 75.14 cents US, up 0.01 of a cent

Pound - C$1.7657, up 0.25 of a cent

Euro - C$1.5503, up 0.61 of a cent Euro - US$1.1649, up 0.47 of a cent

Oil futures:

US$68.58, up $3.04 (August contract)

Gold futures:

US$1,270.70 per oz., up 20 cents (August contract)

Canadian Fine Silver Handy and Harman: daily quote unavailable from source; office closed on Fridays ( Thursday: $22.599 oz., $726.56 kg.)

The markets today

A leap in oil prices helped Canada’s main stock index close at a record high Friday and also countered some of the negative pressure on the loonie from disappointing inflation and retail sales data.

The August crude contract closed up $3.04 or 4.64 per cent at US$68.58 after OPEC agreed to an increase in production that was both lower than expected and somewhat light on specifics, said Macan Nia, senior investment strategist at Manulife Investments.

“There was really a lack of clarity in the numbers, and I think that’s helped push oil higher.”

The oil cartel ostensibly agreed to a roughly million barrel a day increase, but with few member countries in a position to ramp up production the actual increase could be more in the 600,000 to 800,000 barrel a day range, said Nia.

The rising oil price pushed the S&P/TSX capped energy index up 3.21 per cent on the day to clearly lead the market. Overall, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index closed up 114.99 points at 16,450.14 to top the previous record of 16,420.95 set on Wednesday. The index also hit a record intra-day high of 16,489.46. Rising energy prices also helped bolster the loonie, which took a hit earlier in the day on worsethan-expected economic data but averaged 75.14 cents US to be up 0.01 of a US cent for the day.