The latest close of key indices on major world stock exchanges and the London closing values of the euro, the Japanese yen, the British pound and gold bullion (previous day's closes in brackets).

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           December 17   DAY'S CHANGE    2009             2009
                 CLOSE    IN POINTS      HIGH              LOW
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NEW YORK      10320.96    -120.31     10501.05         6594.44
             (1300 EDT)                (Dec 14)       (Mar 05)
LONDON         5217.61    -102.65      5382.67         3512.09
                                       (Nov 16)       (Mar 03)
TOKYO         10163.80     -13.61     10639.71         7054.98
                                       (Aug 26)       (Mar 10)
FRANKFURT      5844.44     -58.99      5903.43         3690.72
                                       (Dec 16)       (Mar 03)
PARIS          3830.82      -45.0      3892.36         2519.29
                                       (Oct 19)       (Mar 09)
SYDNEY          4670.3       +8.4       4859.9          3145.5
                                       (Oct 15)       (Mar 06)
HONG KONG     21347.63    -264.11     22943.98        11344.58
                                       (Nov 16)       (Mar 09)
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FOREIGN EXCHANGE/GOLD BULLION AT 1800 GMT
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Euro/Dollar                   1.4320                  (1.4542)
Dollar/Yen                     90.17                   (89.73)
Pound/Dollar                  1.6139                  (1.6334)
Gold (ounce)                 1104.90                 (1134.95)
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