Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Clean Technology, IT and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Park Lawn Corp (TSX:PLC), which rose 8.57% or 2.26 points to trade at 28.62 at the close. Algoma Steel Group Inc (TSX:ASTL) added 7.12% or 0.82 points to end at 12.34 and Ballard Power Systems Inc (TSX:BLDP) was up 6.56% or 0.49 points to 7.96 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pason Systems Inc . (TSX:PSI), which lost 4.83% or 0.71 points to trade at 14.00 in late trade. Pet Valu Holdings Ltd (TSX:PET) declined 3.52% or 1.46 points to end at 40.00 and Enghouse Systems Ltd (TSX:ENGH) shed 2.25% or 1.00 points to 43.40.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 696 to 305 and 102 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 8.39% to 11.47 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.11% or 20.35 to $1,860.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.11% or 1.65 to hit $79.81 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.38% or 1.17 to trade at $85.92 a barrel.
CAD/USD was unchanged 0.03% to 0.74, while CAD/EUR unchanged 0.29% to 0.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.47% at 104.50.