MONEY IN BRIEF

Currencies

These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Monday. Quotations in Canadian funds. Australia dollar 0.9559 Brazil real 0.3309 China renminbi 0.1905 Euro 1.4954 Hong Kong dollar 0.1664 India rupee 0.01871 Indonesia rupiah 0.00009 Japan yen 0.01184 Malaysia ringgit 0.3186 Mexico peso 0.0687 N.Z. dollar 0.8656 Norway krone 0.1543 Peruvian new sol 0.3944 Russia rouble 0.01944 Saudi riyal 0.3483 Singapore dollar 0.953 South Africa rand 0.08955 South Korean won 0.001166 Sweden krona 0.1424 Switzerland franc 1.3151 Taiwanese dollar 0.04248 Thailand baht 0.03962 Turkey lira 0.2129 U.K. pound 1.669 U.S. dollar 1.3065

Vietnam dong 0.000056

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index inched higher in Monday trading led by a strong performance from cannabis companies while the U.S. bull market continued.

Equity markets on both sides of the border saw minor gains, partly a reflection of an absence of any news about trade or tariffs between China and the United States that allowed markets to follow their natural inclination to grind a little higher, said Craig Fehr, Canadian markets strategist for Edward Jones.

“With an absence of that worrisome news, markets have been a little bit more focused on the economics and earnings data, which is largely supportive of stocks moving higher,” he said in an interview.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 7.32 points at 16,331.03, lead by pot producers such as Aurora Cannabis Inc., which closed up 17.08 per cent, Canopy Growth Corp., which gained almost 11 per cent and Aphria Inc., which closed up 7.47 per cent. The intraday high hit 16,370.92, with 208.75 million shares traded. Cannabis stocks have been extremely volatile, performing very well over the past couple of years and bouncing back after some recent weakness.

Fehr said he expects the high volatility will continue. “We’re still in the infancy as it relates to the regulatory landscape and as it relates to the long-term competitive landscape and so I think for those investors that are in that area you should continue to expect volatility. Today is just the upside of a volatile period.” Canopy and Aphria led the cannabis-heavy S&P/TSX capped health-care index to a gain of 7.43 points or 7.79 per cent, offsetting a 6.35 per cent drop by ProMetic Life Sciences.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 89.37 points at 25,758.69. The S&P 500 index was up 6.92 points at 2,857.05, while the Nasdaq composite was up 4.68 points at 7,821.01

The S&P 500 is nearing the longest bull run in its history, reflecting how much ground has been made up since the financial crisis and driven by earnings growth amid an expanding economy that isn’t showing any immediate sign of breaking down, Fehr added.

The Canadian dollar averaged 76.54 cents US, up .09 of a US cent.

The October crude contract was up 21 cents at US$65.42 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was down one cent at US$2.94 per mmBTU.