Canada shares lower at close of trade; S&P/TSX Composite down 0.68%

Investing.com – Canada equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Materials , Energy and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite lost 0.68%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Seven Generations Energy Ltd (TO: VII ), which rose 7.13% or 1.79 points to trade at 26.89 at the close. Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (TO: PBH ) added 5.67% or 3.09 points to end at 57.54 and Concordia Healthcare Corp (TO: CXR ) was up 5.43% or 1.41 points to 27.36 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Cogeco Communications Inc (TO: CCA ), which lost 7.77% or 5.36 points to trade at 63.59 in late trade. Semafo Inc . (TO: SMF ) declined 5.78% or 0.42 points to end at 6.85 and Kinross Gold Corporation (TO: K ) shed 5.65% or 0.42 points to 7.02.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 655 to 506 and 132 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 2.34% to 15.32.

In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.44% or 6.00 to $1361.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.74% or 2.25 to hit $45.18 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 4.77% or 2.33 to trade at $46.47 a barrel.

CAD/USD was down 0.27% to 0.7695, while CAD/EUR rose 0.06% to 0.6956.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.18% at 96.30.