Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 1.85%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 1.85%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Bausch Health Companies Inc (TSX: BHC ), which rose 19.37% or 1.83 points to trade at 11.28 at the close. First Quantum Minerals Ltd . (TSX: FM ) added 11.50% or 2.67 points to end at 25.88 and Baytex Energy Corp (TSX: BTE ) was up 9.55% or 0.53 points to 6.08 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Brookfield Business Partners LP (TSX: BBU_u ), which lost 2.10% or 0.64 points to trade at 29.86 in late trade. Stella-Jones Inc. (TSX: SJ ) declined 2.04% or 0.65 points to end at 31.28 and TMX Group Limited (TSX: X ) shed 0.52% or 0.70 points to 133.37.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 868 to 163 and 72 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 1.39% to 22.68.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.10% or 1.90 to $1,827.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 3.17% or 3.31 to hit $107.58 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 2.76% or 3.04 to trade at $113.09 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.82% to 0.78, while CAD/EUR unchanged 0.55% to 0.73.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.29% at 103.89.