Investing.com – Canada stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Mining and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 0.14% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Birchcliff Energy Ltd . (TO:BIR), which rose 10.69% or 0.84 points to trade at 8.70 at the close. Meanwhile, Kelt Exploration Ltd. (TO:KEL) added 5.63% or 0.260 points to end at 4.880 and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (TO:VRX) was up 5.62% or 1.58 points to 29.69 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Alamos Gold Inc (TO:AGI), which fell 3.86% or 0.50 points to trade at 12.45 at the close. Boardwalk REIT (TO:BEI_u) declined 3.59% or 2.13 points to end at 57.12 and Guyana Goldfields Inc . (TO:GUY) was down 3.30% or 0.300 points to 8.790.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 652 to 504 and 156 ended unchanged.
Shares in Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (TO:BIR) rose to 52-week highs; up 10.69% or 0.84 to 8.70.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 13.77% to 12.59 a new 1-month low.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.70% or 9.45 to $1334.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.65% or 0.74 to hit $45.49 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.92% or 0.89 to trade at $47.15 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.61% to 0.7754, while CAD/EUR rose 0.35% to 0.6974.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 96.11.