Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, IT and Clean Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp . (TO:PRE), which rose 10.96% or 0.39 points to trade at 3.95 at the close. Firstservice Corp (TO:FSV) added 6.69% or 2.42 points to end at 38.60 and Dominion Diamond Corp (TO:DDC) was up 5.95% or 0.95 points to 16.91 in late trade.
Biggest losers included First Quantum Minerals Ltd . (TO:FM), which lost 6.08% or 0.95 points to trade at 14.67 in late trade. Corus Entertainment Inc (TO:CJRb) declined 5.61% or 0.84 points to end at 14.14 and Sherritt International Corporation (TO:S) shed 4.57% or 0.08 points to 1.67.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 769 to 681 and 188 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 17.25% to 10.70.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.32% or 3.70 to $1143.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.98% or 0.51 to hit $50.91 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.21% or 0.12 to trade at $57.00 a barrel.
CAD/USD was down 0.39% to 0.7712, while CAD/EUR rose 0.24% to 0.7090.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.49% at 97.76.