Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Gold and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.58% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (AX:MFG), which rose 15.29% or 3.690 points to trade at 27.830 at the close. Crown Ltd (AX:CWN) added 6.98% or 0.930 points to end at 14.250 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) was up 6.57% or 0.033 points to 0.527 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which lost 4.95% or 0.510 points to trade at 9.800 in late trade. AGL Energy Ltd (AX:AGL) declined 4.27% or 0.940 points to end at 21.070 and Orora Ltd (AX:ORA) shed 3.48% or 0.12 points to 3.46.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 669 to 549 and 370 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 3.26% to 10.947 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.16% or 1.90 to $1222.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.13% or 0.09 to hit $67.03 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.20 to trade at $72.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7440, while AUD/JPY rose 0.18% to 82.57.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 94.97.