Investing.com – Canada stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Materials and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 0.55%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (TO:VRX), which rose 15.34% or 14.87 points to trade at 111.79 at the close. Meanwhile, First Majestic Silver Corp. (TO:FR) added 8.86% or 0.35 points to end at 4.30 and Concordia Healthcare (TO:CXR) was up 7.15% or 3.38 points to 50.66 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (TO:PWT), which fell 9.40% or 0.14 points to trade at 1.35 at the close. Ensign Energy Services Inc . (TO:ESI) declined 8.13% or 0.58 points to end at 6.55 and Paramount Resources Ltd . (TO:POU) was down 8.04% or 0.81 points to 9.26.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 745 to 674 and 190 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ensign Energy Services Inc. (TO:ESI) fell to 5-year lows; falling 8.13% or 0.58 to 6.55.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 1.27% to 18.69.
Gold for December delivery was up 1.20% or 12.80 to $1081.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.27% or 0.12 to hit $41.84 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.06 to trade at $44.20 a barrel.
CAD/USD was up 0.04% to 0.7521, while CAD/EUR fell 0.64% to 0.7008.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.59% at 99.07.