Downtown office buildings Toronto
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Canada’s main stock index closed slightly higher after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged but indicated that it is prepared to cut it if economic stimulus is needed.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 8.44 points at 16,511.79, after having one of its biggest one-day gains of 2019 on Tuesday.

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 US74.95¢, up from US74.66¢ on Tuesday.

The August crude contract closed down US14¢ at US$53.97 per barrel and the July natural gas contract closed down US5.2¢ at US$2.28 per mmBTU.

The August gold contract ended down US$1.90 at US$1,348.80 an ounce and the July copper contract was down US2.3¢ at US$2.68 a pound.