Investing.com – Canada stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Materials and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.23%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (TO:VRX), which rose 9.59% or 11.54 points to trade at 131.89 at the close. Meanwhile, Yamana Gold Inc (TO:YRI) added 7.09% or 0.20 points to end at 3.02 and Pengrowth Energy Corporation (TO:PGF) was up 7.02% or 0.08 points to 1.22 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TO:PLI), which fell 11.30% or 0.40 points to trade at 3.14 at the close. Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (TO:PRE) declined 8.60% or 0.16 points to end at 1.70 and Newalta Corporation (TO:NAL) was down 7.31% or 0.37 points to 4.69.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 694 to 687 and 204 ended unchanged.
Shares in Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (TO:PRE) fell to 5-year lows; falling 8.60% or 0.16 to 1.70.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 4.03% to 16.68 a new 3-months low.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.30% or 3.20 to $1068.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.40% or 0.17 to hit $41.81 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.40% or 0.18 to trade at $44.43 a barrel.
CAD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7483, while CAD/EUR fell 0.58% to 0.7042.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.39% at 99.88.