MONEY IN BRIEF

Currencies

OTTAWA — These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Monday. Quotations in Canadian funds. Australia dollar 0.9291 Brazil real 0.3554 China renminbi 0.1887 Euro 1.5036 Hong Kong dollar 0.1672 India rupee 0.01782 Indonesia rupiah 0.000086 Japan yen 0.01162 Malaysia ringgit 0.315 Mexico peso 0.06769 N.Z. dollar 0.8596 Norway krone 0.1588 Peruvian new sol 0.3933 Russia rouble 0.0201 Saudi riyal 0.3492 Singapore dollar 0.9497 South Africa rand 0.09161 South Korean won 0.001157 Sweden krona 0.1457 Switzerland franc 1.3152 Taiwanese dollar 0.04236 Thailand baht 0.03996 Turkey lira 0.2311 U.K. pound 1.7003 U.S. dollar 1.3105

Vietnam dong 0.000056

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index closed down Monday as investors remain cautious after a recent see-saw in markets while U.S. indices were mixed. Losses on the Toronto Stock Exchange were widespread across materials, financials and energy indexes while more conservative utilities and real estate indexes rose.

“I think we’re seeing a little bit of a continuation of caution from recent volatility,” said Craig Fehr, Canadian markets strategist for Edward Jones.

The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 57.4 points at 15,412.70 on 277.58 million shares traded. It hit an intra-day high of 15,492.88 points.

The information technology index had the biggest gains at 2.74 per cent as Shopify Inc. climbed 6.05 per cent. The cannabis-heavy health-care index was down the most at 7.47 per cent as marijuana producers continued their post-legalization downward slide. Cannabis stocks have fallen after a significant run-up in stock prices ahead of legalization. The sector, whose stocks dominate trading volumes on the TSX, will continue to be volatile, said Fehr.

“There’s probably still plenty of upside in some names, and plenty of downside in others. Our view is that as an investor you have to treat these as speculative investments at this point.”

The Canadian market overall is expected to face continued challenges for overall growth compared with the U.S., said Fehr.

“Some of the domestic headwinds that the economy faces, combined with the impact that has on corporate profits in Canada and the interest rate outlook in Canada, are really contributing to this trailing effect that we’ve seen for the TSX for the majority of this year.”

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 126.93 points at 25,317.41. The S&P 500 index closed down 11.9 points at 2,755.88, while the Nasdaq composite was up 19.6 points at 7,468.63.

The Canadian dollar averaged 76.31 cents US, unchanged from Friday.

The December crude contract ended up eight cents at US$69.36 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down 11.2 cents at US$3.14 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract closed down US$1.40 at US$1,228.70 an ounce and the December copper contract ended up three cents at US$2.78 a pound.