By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, Jan. 18 (CNS Canada) – The Canadian dollar was up at market close on Friday, as it and the Toronto Stock Exchange followed the United States stock markets.

The dollar finished the day at US$0.7541 or US$1=C$1.3260, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7522 or C$1.3294.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Friday at 15,303.83 up by 92.61 points.

Influenced by the hope of the U.S. and China soon resolving their trade war, the Dow Jones gained 347.30 points to end Friday at 24,717.40. Also on the upswing were the S&P 500, which rose by 36.15 to 2,672.11 and the NASDAQ, which increased by 72.77 points to 7,157.23.

The U.S. markets will be closed on Monday, Jan. 21 for Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Oil was up Friday as West Texas Intermediate crude rose by US$1.63 to close at US$53.99 per barrel.

Gold dropped by US$12.00 on Friday to US$1,280.30 per ounce.

Canada’s agricultural sector faired as follows:

AGT Food and Ingredients———up $ 0.08 at $ 16.80
Buhler Industries—————-unchanged at $ 3.61
Linamar Corp.——————–dn $ 0.72 at $ 48.17
Maple Leaf Foods—————–up $ 0.15 at $ 28.56
Nutrien Ltd.———————up $ 0.40 at $ 68.09
Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc.—-up $ 0.80 at $ 48.17
Rocky Mountain Dealerships Inc.–dn $ 0.19 at $ 8.55

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)