Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 1.35% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Clean Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 1.35% to hit a new 6-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Cronos Group Inc (TSX:CRON), which rose 19.12% or 1.83 points to trade at 11.40 at the close. Aphria Inc (TSX:APHA) added 15.66% or 1.485 points to end at 10.965 and Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED) was up 15.09% or 5.165 points to 39.400 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Lightspeed POS Inc (TSX:LSPD), which lost 4.10% or 3.46 points to trade at 80.90 in late trade. SSR Mining Inc (TSX:SSRM) declined 3.80% or 1.03 points to end at 26.05 and Toromont Industries Ltd . (TSX:TIH) shed 3.38% or 2.98 points to 85.22.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 708 to 394 and 84 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% to 11.27.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 2.08% or 40.70 to $1913.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.60% or 0.80 to hit $50.73 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.57% or 0.84 to trade at $54.44 a barrel.

CAD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.7883, while CAD/EUR fell 0.16% to 0.6405.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 89.498.