Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.23%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 0.23%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Teck Resources Ltd B (TSX: TECKb ), which rose 4.94% or 1.12 points to trade at 23.80 at the close. Parex Resources Inc (TSX: PXT ) added 4.90% or 1.03 points to end at 22.04 and First Quantum Minerals Ltd . (TSX: FM ) was up 4.59% or 1.06 points to 24.14 in late trade.

Biggest losers included OrganiGram Holdings Inc (TSX: OGI ), which lost 4.56% or 0.21 points to trade at 4.40 in late trade. Aphria Inc (TSX: APHA ) declined 4.78% or 1.080 points to end at 21.520 and BlackBerry Ltd (TSX: BB ) shed 4.52% or 0.56 points to 11.93.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 623 to 445 and 102 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 unchanged 0% to 11.27.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.32% or 5.45 to $1730.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 3.89% or 2.28 to hit $60.84 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 4.05% or 2.51 to trade at $64.46 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.7945, while CAD/EUR fell 0.02% to 0.6736.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 92.743.