Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Materials, Energy and Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (TO:PRE), which rose 9.60% or 0.29 points to trade at 3.31 at the close. Barrick Gold Corporation (TO:ABX) added 9.60% or 1.33 points to end at 15.18 and New Gold Inc. (TO:NGD) was up 9.18% or 0.39 points to 4.64 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Air Canada (TO:AC), which lost 3.71% or 0.460 points to trade at 11.930 in late trade. Western Forest Products Inc (TO:WEF) declined 3.55% or 0.07 points to end at 1.90 and Interfor Corp (TO:IFP) shed 3.50% or 0.67 points to 18.48.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 704 to 692 and 185 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 1.65% to 16.74.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.81% or 21.40 to $1204.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 4.32% or 2.06 to hit $49.66 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.93% or 1.61 to trade at $56.73 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.46% to 0.7921, while CAD/EUR rose 0.23% to 0.7362.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 98.53.