Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.25% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN), which rose 5.18% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.930 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) added 4.83% or 0.160 points to end at 3.470 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 3.79% or 0.068 points to 1.847 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dexus Property Group (AX:DXS), which lost 4.15% or 0.410 points to trade at 9.470 in late trade. Growthpoint Properties Australia (AX:GOZ) declined 3.85% or 0.130 points to end at 3.250 and BWP Trust (AX:BWP) shed 3.61% or 0.110 points to 2.940.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 567 to 374 and 294 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 0.04% to 12.164.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.73% or 8.35 to $1149.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.63% or 0.34 to hit $53.72 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.25% or 0.14 to trade at $56.82 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.40% to 0.7206, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 84.08.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 102.88.