Investing.com – Canada equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Materials and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite lost 0.50% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Air Canada (TO:AC), which rose 10.73% or 1.860 points to trade at 19.200 at the close. WestJet Airlines Ltd (TO:WJA) added 3.10% or 0.73 points to end at 24.27 and Pretium Resources Inc. (TO:PVG) was up 2.32% or 0.29 points to 12.81 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Tahoe Resources Inc (TO:THO), which lost 33.18% or 3.57 points to trade at 7.19 in late trade. CCL Industries Inc (TO:CCLb) declined 6.29% or 4.12 points to end at 61.43 and Home Capital Group Inc . (TO:HCG) shed 5.86% or 0.99 points to 15.89.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 698 to 389 and 130 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 6.68% to 14.21.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.21% or 2.60 to $1224.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.38% or 0.17 to hit $45.30 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.09 to trade at $47.88 a barrel.
CAD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.7707, while CAD/EUR fell 0.78% to 0.6746.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.40% at 95.59.