Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Staples and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Home Capital Group Inc . (TO:HCG), which rose 4.97% or 0.81 points to trade at 17.11 at the close. Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd (TO:KML) added 4.45% or 0.85 points to end at 19.97 and Fortis Inc (TO:FTS) was up 3.75% or 1.52 points to 42.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Semafo Inc . (TO:SMF), which lost 9.92% or 0.38 points to trade at 3.45 in late trade. Yamana Gold Inc (TO:YRI) declined 8.39% or 0.36 points to end at 3.93 and Sandstorm Gold Ltd . (TO:SSL) shed 5.79% or 0.370 points to 6.020.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 574 to 525 and 133 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 unchanged 0.00% to 21.65 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.35% or 4.70 to $1350.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.46% or 0.28 to hit $61.62 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.53 to trade at $64.86 a barrel.
CAD/USD was down 0.57% to 0.7966, while CAD/EUR rose 0.17% to 0.6418.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.63% at 89.03.