MONEY IN BRIEF

Currencies

These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Tuesday. Quotations in Canadian funds.

Australia dollar 0.9483

Brazil real 0.3374

China renminbi 0.1901

Euro 1.4869

Hong Kong dollar 0.1667

India rupee 0.01871

Indonesia rupiah 0.00009

Japan yen 0.01179

Malaysia ringgit 0.3194

Mexico peso 0.06898

N.Z. dollar 0.8622

Norway krone 0.156

Peruvian new sol 0.3976

Russia rouble 0.01968

Saudi riyal 0.349

Singapore dollar 0.9509

South Africa rand 0.09196

South Korean won 0.001159

Sweden krona 0.1434

Switzerland franc 1.3181

Taiwanese dollar 0.04245

Thailand baht 0.03931

Turkey lira 0.2028

U.K. pound 1.6673

U.S. dollar 1.3087

Vietnam dong 0.000056

The markets today

Canada’s main stock index closed higher Tuesday on broad gains as investor concerns on Turkey’s economic crisis looked to ease.

Markets reacted positively as the country,

which has seen its currency plunge on a variety of financial concerns, presented few new developments to create more concern.

The S&P/TSX composite lost 166.23 points on Friday’s and Monday’s declines, but regained some of that Tuesday with a 79.92 point climb to close at 16,330.67. The index had an intraday high of 16,341.97 and 187.16 million shares traded hands.

Global financial concerns have historically helped the gold sector, but it’s seen little affection lately with a US$20 plunge Monday that sent stocks in the sector down. The metal regained only a fraction of that loss with a US$1.80 climb Tuesday for the December gold contract to close at US$1,200.70 an ounce.

The gold sector was among the biggest decliners of the day, including a 1.24 per cent drop for Barrick Gold Corp. and a 1.98 per cent decline for Goldcorp Inc. Base metal miners were also down as copper dropped five cents to close at US$2.68 a pound for the September contract after reports that a strike could be averted at the world’s largest copper mine in Chile, and signs of demand slowdown in China.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 112.22 points at 25,299.92.

The S&P 500 index ended up 18.03 points at 2,839.96, while the Nasdaq composite was up 51.19 points at 7,870.90.

The Canadian dollar averaged 76.41 cents US, up 0.28 of a US cent.

The September crude contract closed down 16 cents at US$67.04 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was down three cents at US$2.96 per mmBTU.