Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.18%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which rose 11.71% or 0.390 points to trade at 3.720 at the close. Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (AX:CTD) added 11.32% or 2.270 points to end at 22.320 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) was up 10.10% or 0.730 points to 7.960 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL), which lost 9.91% or 0.170 points to trade at 1.545 in late trade. Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) declined 4.66% or 0.160 points to end at 3.270 and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY) shed 3.61% or 0.065 points to 1.735.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 644 to 550 and 298 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 2.69% to 16.591.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.35% or 4.20 to $1219.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.69% or 0.45 to hit $64.86 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.72% or 0.54 to trade at $74.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.74% to 0.7125, while AUD/JPY rose 0.70% to 80.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 96.68.