Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.41%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC), which rose 3.59% or 0.055 points to trade at 1.585 at the close. JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) added 3.50% or 0.820 points to end at 24.250 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was up 3.40% or 0.090 points to 2.740 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Asaleo Care (AX:AHY), which lost 5.39% or 0.090 points to trade at 1.580 in late trade. Fletcher Building Ltd (AX:FBU) declined 3.68% or 0.280 points to end at 7.320 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) shed 2.91% or 0.015 points to 0.500.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 561 to 460 and 343 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 1.04% to 12.257.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.26% or 3.25 to $1246.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.83% or 0.40 to hit $48.44 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.77% or 0.39 to trade at $51.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.7665, while AUD/JPY fell 0.02% to 85.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 99.55.