Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.33%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR), which rose 7.88% or 0.920 points to trade at 12.590 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) added 6.49% or 0.830 points to end at 13.620 and Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN) was up 3.98% or 0.960 points to 25.100 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG), which lost 10.06% or 0.340 points to trade at 3.040 in late trade. BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) declined 7.27% or 0.885 points to end at 11.295 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) shed 5.83% or 0.048 points to 0.767.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 540 to 515 and 379 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 4.66% to 11.702.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.48% or 6.06 to $1259.16 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.82% or 0.42 to hit $51.78 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.85% or 0.46 to trade at $54.42 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7511, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 83.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 96.82.