Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.55%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Syrah Res F (AX:SYR), which rose 9.25% or 0.310 points to trade at 3.660 at the close. Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) added 4.75% or 0.090 points to end at 1.985 and Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN) was up 4.57% or 1.080 points to 24.720 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Mantra Group Ltd (AX:MTR), which lost 5.07% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.180 in late trade. Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) declined 4.62% or 0.360 points to end at 7.430 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) shed 4.48% or 0.130 points to 2.770.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 567 to 493 and 307 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 5.22% to 13.774.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.07% or 0.95 to $1267.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.50% or 0.25 to hit $49.58 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.48% or 0.25 to trade at $51.61 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.25% to 0.7602, while AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 78.69.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.09% at 96.22.