Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Utilities and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.10% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 5.49% or 0.200 points to trade at 3.840 at the close. Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) added 4.43% or 0.070 points to end at 1.650 and Aveo Group (AX:AOG) was up 3.77% or 0.090 points to 2.480 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which lost 3.74% or 0.040 points to trade at 1.030 in late trade. Super Retail Group Ltd (AX:SUL) declined 3.65% or 0.310 points to end at 8.180 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) shed 3.36% or 0.100 points to 2.880.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 611 to 540 and 398 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 1.00% to 11.303.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.18% or 2.33 to $1280.67 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $52.01 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $58.19 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7853, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 88.75.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 93.26.