Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Materials and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Baytex Energy Corp (TSX:BTE), which rose 9.55% or 0.51 points to trade at 5.91 at the close. Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd . (TSX:AEM) added 8.16% or 5.43 points to end at 71.88 and Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX:WDO) was up 8.13% or 1.20 points to 15.89 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Enghouse Systems Ltd (TSX:ENGH), which lost 12.67% or 5.06 points to trade at 34.88 in late trade. Lightspeed Commerce Inc (TSX:LSPD) declined 8.35% or 2.60 points to end at 28.55 and Martinrea International Inc . (TSX:MRE) shed 7.78% or 0.71 points to 8.42.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 576 to 460 and 79 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 3.95% to 20.44 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.90% or 36.70 to $1,972.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 7.14% or 7.69 to hit $115.36 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 7.10% or 7.84 to trade at $118.30 a barrel.
CAD/USD was unchanged 0.41% to 0.79, while CAD/EUR rose 0.93% to 0.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.84% at 98.61.