Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Real Estate Investment and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Downer Edi Ltd (AX:DOW), which rose 7.69% or 0.320 points to trade at 4.480 at the close. Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) added 7.48% or 0.930 points to end at 13.370 and Santos Ltd (AX:STO) was up 6.74% or 0.290 points to 4.590 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 3.37% or 0.063 points to trade at 1.792 in late trade. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 3.08% or 0.100 points to end at 3.150 and Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) shed 2.69% or 0.070 points to 2.530.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 655 to 411 and 338 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 4.30% to 15.541.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.43% or 5.85 to $1358.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.69% or 0.28 to hit $41.11 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.46% or 0.20 to trade at $43.30 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.25% to 0.7608, while AUD/JPY rose 0.55% to 77.25.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 95.60.