Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Healthcare and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.10% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Idp Education Ltd (AX:IEL), which rose 21.16% or 2.410 points to trade at 13.800 at the close. CYBG PLC (AX:CYB) added 17.87% or 0.570 points to end at 3.760 and Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) was up 7.08% or 0.170 points to 2.570 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 5.20% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.100 in late trade. AGL Energy Ltd (AX:AGL) declined 4.78% or 1.060 points to end at 21.100 and Downer Edi Ltd (AX:DOW) shed 4.63% or 0.350 points to 7.210.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 687 to 455 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 up 1.01% to 12.940.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.51% or 6.65 to $1307.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.33% or 0.18 to hit $53.83 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.38% or 0.24 to trade at $62.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.7095, while AUD/JPY fell 0.13% to 78.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 96.220.