Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, IT and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.39% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were IPH Ltd (AX:IPH), which rose 8.53% or 0.440 points to trade at 5.600 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) added 5.63% or 0.280 points to end at 5.250 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) was up 5.11% or 0.035 points to 0.720 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Flexigroup Ltd (AX:FXL), which lost 3.42% or 0.055 points to trade at 1.555 in late trade. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (AX:FPH) declined 3.27% or 0.390 points to end at 11.540 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) shed 2.84% or 0.110 points to 3.770.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 685 to 452 and 381 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 1.98% to 11.207.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.70% or 9.08 to $1297.98 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.64% or 0.33 to hit $50.97 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.60% or 0.34 to trade at $56.60 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.41% to 0.7820, while AUD/JPY rose 0.23% to 87.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 92.66.