Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pact Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:PGH), which rose 11.40% or 0.260 points to trade at 2.540 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX:MYX) added 9.38% or 0.045 points to end at 0.525 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (ASX:ALG) was up 6.97% or 0.070 points to 1.075 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW), which lost 7.57% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.160 in late trade. Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (ASX:VCX) declined 5.04% or 0.130 points to end at 2.450 and Charter Hall Retail Reit (ASX:CQR) shed 4.91% or 0.230 points to 4.450.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 674 to 569 and 418 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 3.67% to 12.545 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.63% or 8.85 to $1406.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.45% or 0.27 to hit $59.11 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.47% or 0.31 to trade at $65.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.6989, while AUD/JPY rose 0.43% to 75.58.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 95.893.