Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Mining and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.14% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Birchcliff Energy Ltd . (TO:BIR), which rose 10.69% or 0.84 points to trade at 8.70 at the close. Kelt Exploration Ltd. (TO:KEL) added 5.63% or 0.260 points to end at 4.880 and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (TO:VRX) was up 5.62% or 1.58 points to 29.69 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Alamos Gold Inc (TO:AGI), which lost 3.86% or 0.50 points to trade at 12.45 in late trade. Boardwalk REIT (TO:BEI_u) declined 3.59% or 2.13 points to end at 57.12 and Guyana Goldfields Inc . (TO:GUY) shed 3.30% or 0.300 points to 8.790.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 652 to 504 and 156 ended unchanged on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 13.77% to 12.59 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.70% or 9.40 to $1334.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.65% or 0.74 to hit $45.49 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.92% or 0.89 to trade at $47.15 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.61% to 0.7754, while CAD/EUR rose 0.35% to 0.6974.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 96.11.