North American markets mixed on final trading day of 2019 while loonie rises

TORONTO – North American stock indexes capped off a banner year with mixed results on Tuesday ahead of the New Year's Day holiday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 35.13 points at 17,063.43.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 76.03 points to 28,538.44. The S&P 500 index gained 9.49 points at 3,230.78, while the Nasdaq composite was up 26.61 points at 8,972.60.

The Canadian dollar traded at 76.99 cents US, up from Monday's average of 76.58 cents US.

The February crude contract was down 50 cents at $61.18 per barrel and the February natural gas contract was down 0.3 cents at 2.18 per mmBTU.

The February gold contract was up $1.80 at US$1,520.40 an ounce and the March copper contract was down 3.55 cents at US$2.80 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 31, 2019.

Index and currency in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)