Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.24%

Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary , Financials and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.24% to hit a new 6-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Mitel Networks Corporation (TO: MNW ), which rose 10.25% or 0.82 points to trade at 8.82 at the close. DHX Media Ltd (TO: DHXb ) added 6.35% or 0.40 points to end at 6.70 and Interfor Corp (TO: IFP ) was up 6.24% or 0.72 points to 12.26 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Kinross Gold Corporation (TO: K ), which lost 12.15% or 0.79 points to trade at 5.71 in late trade. Alamos Gold Inc (TO: AGI ) declined 12.02% or 1.10 points to end at 8.05 and Novagold Resources Inc . (TO: NG ) shed 11.89% or 0.93 points to 6.89.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 655 to 524 and 130 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 48.64% to 14.21.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 1.96% or 24.50 to $1227.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.52% or 0.73 to hit $48.81 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.91% or 0.44 to trade at $48.79 a barrel.

CAD/USD was down 0.03% to 0.7607, while CAD/EUR rose 0.68% to 0.6827.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.39% at 95.60.