Canada shares lower at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite down 0.26%

© Reuters. Canada shares lower at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite down 0.26%

Investing.com – Canada equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, IT and Clean Technology sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.26%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Semafo Inc . (TO:SMF), which rose 18.08% or 0.49 points to trade at 3.20 at the close. Stantec Inc. (TO:STN) added 9.38% or 2.95 points to end at 34.40 and Finning International Inc . (TO:FTT) was up 8.94% or 2.31 points to 28.16 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kinaxis Inc (TO:KXS), which lost 16.55% or 13.19 points to trade at 66.50 in late trade. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (TO:VRX) declined 9.57% or 1.89 points to end at 17.85 and Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc . (TO:RBA) shed 5.65% or 2.120 points to 35.420.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 748 to 373 and 124 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 up 0.32% to 12.56.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.53% or 19.34 to $1281.94 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.85% or 0.42 to hit $49.59 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.13% or 0.59 to trade at $52.73 a barrel.

CAD/USD was down 0.25% to 0.7874, while CAD/EUR fell 0.27% to 0.6696.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 93.41.