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

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.49% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Precision Drilling Corporation (TO: PD ), which rose 6.79% or 0.19 points to trade at 2.99 at the close. CES Energy Solutions Corp (TO: CEU ) added 5.22% or 0.180 points to end at 3.630 and Husky Energy Inc . (TO: HSE ) was up 4.73% or 0.70 points to 15.51 in late trade.

Biggest losers included First Majestic Silver Corp. (TO: FR ), which lost 10.09% or 0.80 points to trade at 7.13 in late trade. Aphria Inc (TO: APHA ) declined 5.04% or 0.470 points to end at 8.860 and New Gold Inc (TO: NGD ) shed 4.86% or 0.070 points to 1.370.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 557 to 528 and 100 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 5.74% to 17.42 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.16% or 2.05 to $1289.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 3.13% or 1.58 to hit $52.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.78% or 1.64 to trade at $60.63 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7536, while CAD/EUR rose 0.71% to 0.6603.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.35% at 95.540.