Investing.com – Canada stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Mining, Materials and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 1.21%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were RONA Inc . (TO:RON), which rose 97.96% or 11.53 points to trade at 23.30 at the close. Meanwhile, Paramount Resources Ltd . (TO:POU) added 29.52% or 1.24 points to end at 5.44 and Baytex Energy Corp (TO:BTE) was up 14.52% or 0.36 points to 2.84 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (TO:ATA), which fell 8.77% or 0.89 points to trade at 9.26 at the close. Aimia Inc (TO:AIM) declined 7.21% or 0.62 points to end at 7.98 and Colliers International Group (TO:CIG) was down 6.47% or 3.29 points to 47.58.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 774 to 437 and 303 ended unchanged.
Shares in RONA Inc. (TO:RON) rose to 5-year highs; rising 97.96% or 11.53 to 23.30. Shares in ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. (TO:ATA) fell to 52-week lows; falling 8.77% or 0.89 to 9.26. Shares in Aimia Inc (TO:AIM) fell to 5-year lows; falling 7.21% or 0.62 to 7.98.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was up 0.31% to 25.65.
Gold for April delivery was up 1.45% or 16.40 to $1143.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 9.35% or 2.79 to hit $32.67 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 8.21% or 2.69 to trade at $35.41 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 2.07% to 0.7263, while CAD/EUR rose 0.29% to 0.6539.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.66% at 97.23.