Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Industrials and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.19%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH), which rose 9.09% or 0.29 points to trade at 3.48 at the close. Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) added 7.84% or 0.76 points to end at 10.46 and Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) was up 5.57% or 7.85 points to 148.85 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF), which lost 9.91% or 0.44 points to trade at 3.96 in late trade. Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) declined 9.43% or 1.00 points to end at 9.60 and Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) shed 7.00% or 23.64 points to 314.11.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 553 to 514 and 437 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 3.21% to 12.28.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.62% or 15.30 to $2,495.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.25% or 0.19 to hit $77.17 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.15 to trade at $79.91 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.39% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.30% to 97.48.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 102.42.