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 0.9132 Brazil real 0.3436 China renminbi 0.1925 Euro 1.4897 Hong Kong dollar 0.1688 India rupee 0.01898 Indonesia rupiah 0.000093

Japan yen 0.01227

Malaysia ringgit 0.318 Mexico peso 0.06953

N.Z. dollar 0.8689

Norway krone 0.1541 Peruvian new sol 0.3978 Russia rouble 0.02096

Saudi riyal 0.3517 Singapore dollar 0.9729

South Africa rand 0.09229 South Korean won 0.001138

Sweden krona 0.1402 Switzerland franc 1.343 Taiwanese dollar 0.04261 Thailand baht 0.04272 Turkey lira 0.2288 U.K. pound 1.6747 U.S. dollar 1.3191

Vietnam dong 0.000057

The markets today

TORONTO (CP) — Canada’s main stock index closed slightly higher Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged but indicated it’s prepared to cut it if economic stimulus is needed.

The mixed news saw the S&P/ TSX composite index inch up 8.44 points to close at 16,511.79, after having one of its biggest one-day gains of 2019 on Tuesday. Information technology saw the biggest index gains on the TSX at 1.92 per cent, pushed up in part by Shopify’s 6.8 per cent gain after it announced it had launched a fulfilment network.

The energy index was down 0.89 per cent after oil slipped 14 cents at US$53.97 per barrel and the July natural gas contract closed down 5.2 cents at US$2.28 per mmBTU.

Oil dropped on OPEC uncertainty, despite news from the U.S. of higher than expected crude inventories and gasoline demand, said Currie.

“The news seems to be all about OPEC, whether they can get their act together. They announced they were having a meeting in July, but they’ve still got Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the Emirates on one side, everybody else is on the other side.”

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 38.46 points at 26,504.00. The S&P 500 index ended up 8.71 points at 2,926.46, while the Nasdaq composite was up 33.44 points at 7,987.32. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 74.95 cents US, up from 74.66 cents US on Tuesday after Statistics Canada said the consumer price index rose 2.4 per cent in May compared with a year ago.

The higher-than-expected inflation rate could make it harder for the Bank of Canada to cut rates.

The August gold contract ended down US$1.90 at US$1,348.80 an ounce and the July copper contract was down 2.3 cents at US$2.68 a pound.