Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.00%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG), which rose 8.96% or 0.275 points to trade at 3.345 at the close. Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) added 8.77% or 0.068 points to end at 0.838 and Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) was up 5.54% or 0.495 points to 9.435 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which lost 10.52% or 0.27 points to trade at 2.25 in late trade. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) declined 4.81% or 0.710 points to end at 14.040 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) shed 3.73% or 0.170 points to 4.390.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 652 to 544 and 349 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 up 0.08% to 12.291.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.16% or 2.00 to $1229.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $69.30 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.55% or 0.41 to trade at $74.34 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.27% to 0.7436, while AUD/JPY fell 0.50% to 82.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 93.94.