Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Real Estate Investment and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.29% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN), which rose 4.08% or 0.120 points to trade at 3.060 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 3.85% or 0.180 points to end at 4.850 and Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) was up 3.79% or 0.055 points to 1.505 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC), which lost 38.81% or 2.860 points to trade at 4.510 in late trade. Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX:TWE) declined 4.78% or 0.715 points to end at 14.240 and Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC) shed 3.54% or 0.390 points to 10.640.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 574 to 485 and 355 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 4.36% to 15.192 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.39% or 5.05 to $1297.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 1.11% or 0.58 to hit $51.78 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.93% or 0.57 to trade at $60.87 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.27% to 0.7189, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 77.58.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 94.690.