OTTAWA: Canada stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Industrials and Financials sectors led shares higher. At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.55%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Birchcliff Energy Ltd . (TO:BIR), which rose 8.11% or 0.54 points to trade at 7.20 at the close. Meanwhile, Bonterra Energy Corp (TO:BNE) added 6.04% or 1.26 points to end at 22.13 and Sierra Wireless Inc . (TO:SW) was up 6.01% or 2.28 points to 40.19 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Detour Gold Corporation (TO:DGC), which fell 5.85% or 0.93 points to trade at 14.97 at the close. Semafo Inc . (TO:SMF) declined 5.00% or 0.22 points to end at 4.18 and Endeavour Mining Corp (TO:EDV) was down 4.25% or 1.060 points to 23.880. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 774 to 376 and 128 ended unchanged. Shares in Sierra Wireless Inc. (TO:SW) rose to 52-week highs; up 6.01% or 2.28 to 40.19.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 2.54% to 12.64. Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.30% or 3.75 to $1245.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.69% or 0.33 to hit $47.71 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.20% or 0.10 to trade at $50.54 a barrel. CAD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7494, while CAD/EUR fell 0.09% to 0.6942. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 99.53.