Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.11%

Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare , Consumer Staples and Clean Technology sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.11% to hit a new 52-week high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TO: IVN ), which rose 16.60% or 0.390 points to trade at 2.740 at the close. BRP Inc. (TO: DOO ) added 9.60% or 2.47 points to end at 28.21 and MEG Energy Corp (TO: MEG ) was up 4.82% or 0.38 points to 8.27 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Alacer Gold Corp (TO: ASR ), which lost 8.76% or 0.190 points to trade at 1.980 in late trade. MAG Silver Corp . (TO: MAG ) declined 8.64% or 1.45 points to end at 15.34 and Pretium Resources Inc. (TO: PVG ) shed 8.13% or 0.99 points to 11.19.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 696 to 494 and 129 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 10.56% to 8.64 a new 52-week low.

In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.99% or 11.55 to $1160.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.14% or 0.58 to hit $51.42 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.39 to trade at $54.28 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7582, while CAD/EUR rose 0.59% to 0.7185.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.52% at 101.64.