OTTAWA: Canada stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Energy and Materials sectors led shares lower. At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.06% to hit a new 6-months low. The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Home Capital Group Inc . (TO:HCG), which rose 12.70% or 1.54 points to trade at 13.67 at the close. Meanwhile, North West Company Inc . (TO:NWC) added 4.65% or 1.46 points to end at 32.88 and Kinaxis Inc (TO:KXS) was up 3.74% or 3.02 points to 83.68 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Baytex Energy Corp (TO:BTE), which fell 8.62% or 0.30 points to trade at 3.18 at the close. ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TO:PLI) declined 7.50% or 0.150 points to end at 1.850 and HudBay Minerals Inc. (TO:HBM) was down 5.75% or 0.40 points to 6.56. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 598 to 513 and 145 ended unchanged. Shares in Baytex Energy Corp (TO:BTE) fell to 52-week lows; losing 8.62% or 0.30 to 3.18. The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 4.41% to 14.51 a new 6-months high. Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.50% or 19.12 to $1256.78 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.72% or 0.32 to hit $44.41 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.26% or 0.12 to trade at $46.88 a barrel. CAD/USD was down 0.15% to 0.7538, while CAD/EUR rose 0.49% to 0.6762. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.58% at 97.47.