Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.38%

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

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.38% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Eldorado Gold Corporation (TO: ELD ), which rose 9.88% or 0.42 points to trade at 4.67 at the close. MEG Energy Corp (TO: MEG ) added 7.83% or 0.49 points to end at 6.75 and Encana Corporation (TO: ECA ) was up 6.38% or 0.95 points to 15.85 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Enghouse Systems Ltd (TO: ENGH ), which lost 9.37% or 5.90 points to trade at 57.10 in late trade. Celestica Inc. (TO: CLS ) declined 3.18% or 0.62 points to end at 18.89 and NexGen Energy Ltd. (TO: NXE ) shed 2.80% or 0.090 points to 3.130.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 826 to 344 and 113 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 9.45% to 11.40.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.26% or 3.25 to $1252.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 2.21% or 1.07 to hit $49.44 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.98% or 1.02 to trade at $52.44 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7500, while CAD/EUR rose 0.80% to 0.6964.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 99.77.