Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which rose 5.88% or 0.950 points to trade at 17.110 at the close. Sonic Healthcare Ltd (AX:SHL) added 5.85% or 1.470 points to end at 26.590 and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) was up 4.42% or 0.460 points to 10.860 in late trade.
Biggest losers included G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM), which lost 3.20% or 0.080 points to trade at 2.420 in late trade. Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) declined 2.88% or 0.280 points to end at 9.450 and Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (AX:CLW) shed 2.87% or 0.125 points to 4.235.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 641 to 460 and 403 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 2.99% to 12.733.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.09% or 1.10 to $1243.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.61% or 0.43 to hit $70.81 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.78% or 1.31 to trade at $74.71 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.19% to 0.7382, while AUD/JPY rose 0.48% to 82.90.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 94.50.