Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.49%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.49% to hit a new 6-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Interfor Corp (TSX: IFP ), which rose 10.37% or 2.41 points to trade at 25.66 at the close. Canfor Corporation (TSX: CFP ) added 8.95% or 2.08 points to end at 25.32 and West Fraser Timber Co Ltd (TSX: WFG ) was up 8.00% or 8.56 points to 115.58 in late trade.

Biggest losers included NovaGold Resources Inc (TSX: NG ), which lost 7.30% or 0.68 points to trade at 8.63 in late trade. MAG Silver Corp (TSX: MAG ) declined 6.84% or 1.43 points to end at 19.49 and K92 Mining Inc (TSX: KNT ) shed 4.69% or 0.38 points to 7.72.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 565 to 424 and 110 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 3.46% to 13.97 a new 6-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.65% or 12.55 to $1,930.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.30% or 1.04 to hit $81.19 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.73% or 1.49 to trade at $87.61 a barrel.

CAD/USD was unchanged 0.53% to 0.75, while CAD/EUR rose 0.78% to 0.69.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 101.60.