OTTAWA: Canada stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Financials and REITs sectors led shares higher. At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite added 0.32%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Home Capital Group Inc . (TO:HCG), which rose 7.81% or 0.85 points to trade at 11.74 at the close. Meanwhile, Canopy Growth Corp (TO:WEED) added 6.67% or 0.490 points to end at 7.840 and Baytex Energy Corp (TO:BTE) was up 5.10% or 0.18 points to 3.71 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Enghouse Systems Ltd (TO:ENGH), which fell 10.57% or 6.50 points to trade at 55.00 at the close. Hudson’s Bay Company (TO:HBC) declined 10.50% or 1.01 points to end at 8.61 and Asanko Gold Inc (TO:AKG) was down 7.56% or 0.170 points to 2.080. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 669 to 442 and 140 ended unchanged. Shares in Hudson’s Bay Company (TO:HBC) fell to all time lows; losing 10.50% or 1.01 to 8.61.
The S&P/TSX 60 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was down 5.08% to 11.95. Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.75% or 9.64 to $1269.86 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.37% or 0.17 to hit $45.81 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.27 to trade at $48.13 a barrel. CAD/USD was up 0.28% to 0.7425, while CAD/EUR rose 0.53% to 0.6636. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.31% at 97.25.
