Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Vermilion Energy Inc . (TSX:VET), which rose 9.24% or 1.48 points to trade at 17.50 at the close. Secure Energy Services Inc . (TSX:SES) added 5.67% or 0.29 points to end at 5.50 and Parex Resources Inc (TSX:PXT) was up 5.39% or 1.21 points to 23.66 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Energy Fuels Inc. (TSX:EFR), which lost 8.58% or 0.940 points to trade at 10.010 in late trade. NexGen Energy Ltd. (TSX:NXE) declined 8.70% or 0.540 points to end at 5.670 and Stelco Holdings Inc (TSX:STLC) shed 8.20% or 3.31 points to 37.05.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 604 to 449 and 96 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 4.12% to 17.00.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 2.00% or 36.45 to $1788.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.34% or 1.82 to hit $79.67 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.68% or 1.36 to trade at $82.16 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7853, while CAD/EUR rose 0.41% to 0.6955.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 96.305.