Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Resources, Metals & Mining and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC), which rose 9.68% or 0.270 points to trade at 3.060 at the close. Magellan Financial Group Ltd (AX:MFG) added 7.78% or 2.100 points to end at 29.090 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was up 6.82% or 0.270 points to 4.230 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH), which lost 8.53% or 0.320 points to trade at 3.430 in late trade. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) declined 7.73% or 0.180 points to end at 2.150 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) shed 4.46% or 0.445 points to 9.525.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 576 to 569 and 396 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 2.27% to 11.077.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.11% or 1.30 to $1201.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.25% or 0.19 to hit $76.22 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.24% or 0.21 to trade at $86.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.27% to 0.7085, while AUD/JPY fell 0.43% to 81.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 95.72.