An agreement by OPEC to cut oil production helped push oil prices, along with the loonie and the S&P/TSX Composite Index, higher on Wednesday.

The price of the November contract for light sweet crude rose $2.38 to close at $47.05 US per barrel following media reports that OPEC had reached agreement to limit its output to between 32.5 million and 33.0 million barrels per day — down from the current output of 33.24 million barrels a day.

Citing unnamed sources, Reuters said the members of OPEC will agree to the output reduction at its next formal meeting in November.

The Canadian dollar, which is closely tied to the movements in the price of oil, rose by 0.54 of a cent to 76.28 cents US.

On Bay Street, the S&P/TSX Composite Index shot up by 173.39 points to end at 14,731.43.

Energy stocks led the way, with Canadian Natural Resources up almost seven per cent at $41.17 and Suncor up more than four per cent at $35.58,

In the United States, the benchmark Dow 30 index finished at 18,339.24, up 110.94 points. The broader S&P 500 rose by 11.44 points to 2,171.37, while the Nasdaq composite index ended the trading day at 5,318.55, up 12.84 points.

In other commodities, December gold contract fell $6.70 US to $1,323.70 US an ounce and November natural gas contracts fell five cents at $3 US per mmBtu. December copper contracts climbed two cents at $2.18 US a pound.