Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Energy and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.29% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Vocus Fpo (AX:VOC), which rose 6.42% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.310 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 5.00% or 0.105 points to end at 2.205 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 4.43% or 0.045 points to 1.060 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which lost 2.97% or 0.130 points to trade at 4.240 in late trade. Macquarie Atlas Roads Group (AX:MQA) declined 2.19% or 0.110 points to end at 4.910 and Qube Holdings Ltd (AX:QUB) shed 2.05% or 0.050 points to 2.390.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 563 to 437 and 326 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.16% to 12.728.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.92% or 10.70 to $1176.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $53.23 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.14% or 0.08 to trade at $56.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.51% to 0.7319, while AUD/JPY fell 0.46% to 85.00.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.60% at 101.88.