Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.33%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 7.88% or 0.410 points to trade at 5.610 at the close. Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) added 7.28% or 0.195 points to end at 2.875 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was up 6.28% or 0.225 points to 3.805 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which lost 4.10% or 0.445 points to trade at 10.415 in late trade. Challenger Ltd (AX:CGF) declined 3.23% or 0.360 points to end at 10.770 and Perpetual Ltd (AX:PPT) shed 2.86% or 1.170 points to 39.710.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 671 to 563 and 376 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 9.74% to 10.747 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.08% or 1.10 to $1354.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.47% or 0.32 to hit $68.79 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.41 to trade at $73.89 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.23% to 0.7803, while AUD/JPY rose 0.41% to 83.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 89.38.