Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.02% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Breville Group Ltd (AX:BRG), which rose 12.29% or 1.430 points to trade at 13.070 at the close. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) added 7.25% or 0.660 points to end at 9.760 and Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (AX:QBE) was up 6.96% or 0.710 points to 10.910 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC), which lost 8.13% or 1.170 points to trade at 13.230 in late trade. Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) declined 8.05% or 0.850 points to end at 9.710 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) shed 7.21% or 1.080 points to 13.890.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 648 to 572 and 407 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 2.20% to 11.506.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.03% or 0.30 to $1184.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.28% or 0.18 to hit $65.19 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.42 to trade at $71.18 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.47% to 0.7273, while AUD/JPY rose 0.60% to 80.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.26% at 96.34.