Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which rose 8.31% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.63 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) added 8.06% or 0.135 points to end at 1.810 and Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) was up 7.33% or 0.330 points to 4.830 in late trade.
Biggest losers included TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM), which lost 16.54% or 1.280 points to trade at 6.460 in late trade. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 4.92% or 0.220 points to end at 4.250 and Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP) shed 4.72% or 2.080 points to 42.020.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 588 to 501 and 328 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 5.52% to 16.356.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.08% or 1.00 to $1249.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.18% or 0.09 to hit $51.29 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.47% or 0.28 to trade at $60.43 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7229, while AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 82.03.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 97.085.