Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 0.12% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Alamos Gold Inc (TSX:AGI), which rose 4.75% or 0.37 points to trade at 8.16 at the close. NovaGold Resources Inc (TSX:NG) added 3.95% or 0.46 points to end at 12.12 and Maple Leaf Foods Inc . (TSX:MFI) was up 3.83% or 0.95 points to 25.76 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ballard Power Systems Inc (TSX:BLDP), which lost 10.74% or 1.41 points to trade at 11.72 in late trade. Alacer Gold Corp (TSX:ASR) declined 6.78% or 0.46 points to end at 6.32 and Baytex Energy Corp (TSX:BTE) shed 5.81% or 0.100 points to 1.620.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 617 to 404 and 144 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 unchanged 0.00% to 11.27.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.38% or 5.90 to $1562.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.89% or 1.07 to hit $55.67 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 1.72% or 1.09 to trade at $62.12 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7617, while CAD/EUR rose 0.42% to 0.6888.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 97.460.