MONEY IN BRIEF

Currencies

OTTAWA (CP) — These are indicative wholesale rates for foreign currency provided by the Bank of Canada on Thursday. Quotations in Canadian funds.

Australia dollar 1.0026

Brazil real 0.4026

China renminbi 0.1912

Euro 1.4936

Hong Kong dollar 0.162615

India rupee 0.01983

Indonesia rupiah 0.000095

Japan yen 0.01162

Malaysia ringgit 0.2962

Mexico peso 0.07093

N.Z. dollar 0.9254

Norway krone 0.1599

Peruvian new sol 0.3913

Russia rouble 0.02120

Saudi riyal 0.3390

Singapore dollar 0.9324

South Africa rand 0.09497

South Korean won 0.001111

Sweden krona 0.1560

Switzerland franc 1.3182

Taiwanese dollar 0.04190

Thailand baht 0.03824

Turkey lira 0.3598

U.K. pound 1.6506

U.S. dollar 1.2711

Vietnam dong 0.000056

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index dipped slightly while U.S. markets were buoyed Wednesday by optimism about a trade deal with China.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 15.37 points at 15,626.73, after hitting an intraday high of 15,689.66. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 117.51 points at 25,543.27. The S&P 500 index was up 8.30 points at 2,753.03, while the Nasdaq composite was up 5.76 points at 7,420.38.

“We both started off on a leg up just on the hopes that there could be that breakthrough in that trade war with China, and also the president saying that they’re moving closer to avoiding a government shutdown, but that kind of faded,” said Jayson Moss, research analyst at Franklin Bissett Investment Management.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio later tweeted that he plans to introduce a bill that would end the tax advantage of share buy-backs over dividends. “That took a bit of steam out of markets in the U.S. and I think that kind of took the Canadian market with it a bit,” Moss said. The Toronto stock market fell as a broad weakness led by technology and materials more than offset gains from the health care and energy sectors. Several marijuana producers pushed the sector to a 1.9 per cent gain, led by The Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd., which rose 7.55 per cent, and Canopy Growth Corp. up 4.8 per cent.

The energy sector rose about one per cent as the price of West Texas Intermediate increased 1.7 per cent on Saudi Arabia saying it would deliver deeper cuts to crude production. “The expectation that if a U.S.China trade deal is ultimately reached, it could result in improved demand for oil, so that’s really lifting all the energy producers and related companies including suppliers,” added Moss.

The March crude contract closed up 80 cents at US$53.90 per barrel and the March natural gas contract was down 11.3 cents at US$2.57 per mmBTU. Among energy producers, Cenovus Energy Inc. and Crescent Point Energy Corp. gained 5.8 per cent, followed by Encana Corp.

The April gold contract was up US$1.10 at US$1,315.10 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 0.1 of a cent at US$2.77 a pound.