Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Industrials and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.44% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mantra Group Ltd (AX:MTR), which rose 8.41% or 0.280 points to trade at 3.610 at the close. Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) added 4.82% or 0.048 points to end at 1.032 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) was up 3.90% or 0.080 points to 2.130 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 9.52% or 0.315 points to trade at 2.995 in late trade. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 9.12% or 0.155 points to end at 1.545 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) shed 8.07% or 0.430 points to 4.900.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 549 to 516 and 329 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 1.70% to 14.558.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.20% or 2.65 to $1316.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.42% or 0.19 to hit $45.94 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.51% or 0.24 to trade at $47.41 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.19% to 0.7487, while AUD/JPY rose 0.36% to 80.19.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.07% at 97.09.