Canada shares lower at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite down 0.50% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Canada equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the IT, Clean Technology and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite declined 0.50%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Spin Master Corp (TSX:TOY), which rose 9.39% or 3.38 points to trade at 39.39 at the close. Laurentian Bank Of Canada (TSX:LB) added 9.61% or 3.51 points to end at 40.04 and Sleep Country Canada Holdings Inc (TSX:ZZZ) was up 8.11% or 2.27 points to 30.27 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Ballard Power Systems Inc (TSX:BLDP), which lost 8.32% or 2.96 points to trade at 32.63 in late trade. Shopify Inc (TSX:SHOP) declined 6.74% or 111.39 points to end at 1542.40 and Innergex Renewable Energy Inc . (TSX:INE) shed 5.78% or 1.38 points to 22.51.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 553 to 486 and 95 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 April delivery was down 1.19% or 20.60 to $1713.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.51% or 1.50 to hit $61.25 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.17% or 1.36 to trade at $64.06 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.02% to 0.7916, while CAD/EUR rose 0.24% to 0.6561.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 90.948.