Canada shares higher at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite up 0.57%

Investing.com – Canada equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Mining , Utilities and Clean Technology sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.57%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (TO: PWT ), which rose 10.29% or 0.14 points to trade at 1.50 at the close. Toromont Industries Ltd . (TO: TIH ) added 9.07% or 3.14 points to end at 37.75 and First Quantum Minerals Ltd . (TO: FM ) was up 8.00% or 0.69 points to 9.32 in late trade.

Biggest losers included DH Corp (TO: DH ), which lost 9.48% or 3.53 points to trade at 33.70 in late trade. Le Groupe Jean Coutu PJC Inc (TO: PJCa ) declined 5.77% or 1.16 points to end at 18.93 and DHX Media Ltd (TO: DHXb ) shed 5.07% or 0.40 points to 7.49.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 530 to 281 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 down 5.23% to 15.41.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.33% or 4.15 to $1247.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 2.86% or 1.26 to hit $45.30 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 2.98% or 1.36 to trade at $46.94 a barrel.

CAD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.7927, while CAD/EUR fell 0.20% to 0.7006.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.01% at 94.46.