Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Gold and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were HT&E Ltd (AX:HT1), which rose 13.14% or 0.205 points to trade at 1.765 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 7.91% or 0.085 points to end at 1.160 and Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) was up 6.98% or 0.580 points to 8.890 in late trade.
Biggest losers included IPH Ltd (AX:IPH), which lost 19.92% or 1.020 points to trade at 4.100 in late trade. Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP) declined 7.53% or 3.500 points to end at 43.000 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) shed 5.41% or 0.200 points to 3.500.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 801 to 415 and 345 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 3.88% to 17.629.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.11% or 1.50 to $1356.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.16% or 0.70 to hit $61.30 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.87% or 0.56 to trade at $64.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.06% to 0.7932, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 84.52.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 88.82.