Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.30%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 0.30%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX: EDR ), which rose 8.42% or 0.55 points to trade at 7.08 at the close. First Majestic Silver Corp. (TSX: FR ) added 7.28% or 1.19 points to end at 17.54 and Methanex Corporation (TSX: MX ) was up 7.19% or 4.47 points to 66.67 in late trade.

Biggest losers included NFI Group Inc (TSX: NFI ), which lost 22.56% or 4.36 points to trade at 14.97 in late trade. LifeWorks Inc (TSX: LWRK ) declined 14.06% or 3.26 points to end at 19.93 and Shopify Inc (TSX: SHOP ) shed 5.68% or 42.80 points to 711.30.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 514 to 504 and 93 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 up 5.97% to 20.40.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.95% or 18.90 to $2,007.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.91% or 2.08 to hit $106.62 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 1.18% or 1.31 to trade at $109.83 a barrel.

CAD/USD was unchanged 0.34% to 0.78, while CAD/EUR rose 1.16% to 0.71.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.56% at 98.50.