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 0.9239

Brazil real 0.342

China renminbi 0.1914

Euro 1.5007

Hong Kong dollar 0.1691

India rupee 0.01908

Indonesia rupiah 0.000093

Japan yen 0.01223

Malaysia ringgit 0.3186

Mexico peso 0.06907

N.Z. dollar 0.8777

Norway krone 0.1533

Peruvian new sol 0.3979

Russia rouble 0.0205

Saudi riyal 0.3537

Singapore dollar 0.971

South Africa rand 0.08953

South Korean won 0.00112

Sweden krona 0.1409

Switzerland franc 1.34

Taiwanese dollar 0.04225

Thailand baht 0.04231

Turkey lira 0.2296 U.K.

pound 1.6827

U.S. dollar 1.3267

Vietnam dong 0.000057

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index started the week lower on a drop in commodity prices while U.S. markets closed higher following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision not to impose tariffs on Mexico.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 14.70 points Monday to 16,216.26.

A slower pace of housing starts in May along with the price of gold falling by the most in a month and oil retreating had an effect on the Canadian market, says Anish Chopra, managing director with Portfolio Management Corp. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts slipped to 202,337 units in May, down 13.3 per cent from 233,410 units in April. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained for a sixth straight day, rising 78.74 points at 26,062.68. The S&P 500 index was up 13.39 points at 2,886.73, while the Nasdaq composite was up 81.07 points at 7,823.17.

Markets rose after Trump said his government reached a deal with Mexico over immigration that lead him to abandon his threat to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico. In addition, two large mergers and acquisitions were announced Monday. Raytheon and United Technologies will join to create a massive aerospace and defence company with annual revenues of US$74 billion and software maker Salesforce is buying Tableau Software in an all-stock deal valued at US$15.7 billion. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 75.37 cents US compared with an average of 75.28 cents US on Friday. Eight of the 11 major sectors on the TSX were lower, led by industrials, materials and energy.

Industrials dropped 0.73 per cent as shares of Air Canada, SNC-Lavalin and Canada’s two largest railways fell, partially offset by gains for BRP Inc. and Bombardier Inc. Materials was off by half a percentage point as Yamana Gold Inc. and Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. were down more than four per cent.

The August gold contract was down US$16.80 at US$1,329.30 an ounce and the July copper contract was up 3.4 cents at US$2.66 a pound.

The July crude contract was down 73 cents at US$53.26 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was up two cents at US$2.36 per mmBTU.