Investing.com – Canada stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Staples, Utilities and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.43%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp . (TO:PRE), which rose 6.91% or 0.23 points to trade at 3.56 at the close. Meanwhile, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners LP (TO:BEP_u) added 6.59% or 2.27 points to end at 36.74 and Extendicare Inc (TO:EXE) was up 5.32% or 0.43 points to 8.51 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (TO:PWT), which fell 9.18% or 0.19 points to trade at 1.88 at the close. Corus Entertainment Inc (TO:CJRb) declined 8.99% or 1.48 points to end at 14.98 and Ensign Energy Services Inc . (TO:ESI) was down 6.12% or 0.70 points to 10.73.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 781 to 601 and 204 ended unchanged.
Shares in Corus Entertainment Inc (TO:CJRb) fell to 5-year lows; losing 8.99% or 1.48 to 14.98.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was up 13.22% to 10.36.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.46% or 5.30 to $1148.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.75% or 1.46 to hit $51.58 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 2.28% or 1.34 to trade at $57.34 a barrel.
CAD/USD was down 1.43% to 0.7743, while CAD/EUR fell 0.85% to 0.7074.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.49% at 97.28.