Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.21% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Aimia Inc (TO:AIM), which rose 10.14% or 0.15 points to trade at 1.63 at the close. Asanko Gold Inc (TO:AKG) added 10.11% or 0.190 points to end at 2.070 and Baytex Energy Corp (TO:BTE) was up 5.35% or 0.17 points to 3.35 in late trade.
Biggest losers included ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TO:PLI), which lost 10.81% or 0.200 points to trade at 1.650 in late trade. Teck Resources Ltd B (TO:TECKb) declined 8.57% or 1.85 points to end at 19.73 and Exchange Income Corporation (TO:EIF) shed 8.31% or 2.650 points to 29.250.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 556 to 532 and 137 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 1.79% to 14.25 a new 6-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.19% or 2.35 to $1256.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.61% or 0.27 to hit $44.73 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.92% or 0.43 to trade at $47.35 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.42% to 0.7563, while CAD/EUR fell 0.13% to 0.6753.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.38% at 97.13.