Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.10%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.10% to hit a new 3-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Precision Drilling Corporation (TO: PD ), which rose 13.88% or 0.34 points to trade at 2.79 at the close. Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp (TO: LIF ) added 12.49% or 3.25 points to end at 29.27 and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TO: IVN ) was up 8.79% or 0.210 points to 2.600 in late trade.

Biggest losers included NexGen Energy Ltd. (TO: NXE ), which lost 6.94% or 0.170 points to trade at 2.280 in late trade. Cameco Corp (TO: CCO ) declined 3.18% or 0.52 points to end at 15.84 and CI Financial Corp (TO: CIX ) shed 2.54% or 0.46 points to 17.62.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 624 to 468 and 128 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 0.47% to 16.94.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.73% or 9.50 to $1318.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.80% or 0.96 to hit $54.27 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.69% or 0.42 to trade at $61.62 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.96% to 0.7608, while CAD/EUR rose 0.51% to 0.6623.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.44% at 95.097.