Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.05%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.05%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB), which rose 10.38% or 1.310 points to trade at 13.930 at the close. Enerplus Corporation (TSX:ERF) added 8.62% or 0.28 points to end at 3.53 and Aphria Inc (TSX:APHA) was up 7.11% or 0.705 points to 10.615 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Transcontinental Inc (TSX:TCLa), which lost 5.04% or 1.00 points to trade at 18.85 in late trade. Methanex Corporation (TSX:MX) declined 4.34% or 2.38 points to end at 52.42 and Lundin Mining Corporation (TSX:LUN) shed 4.09% or 0.405 points to 9.495.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 575 to 447 and 126 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 up 0.73% or 13.20 to $1832.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.71% or 0.76 to hit $45.31 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.81% or 0.86 to trade at $48.28 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7732, while CAD/EUR fell 0.23% to 0.6390.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 91.090.