Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.45% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME), which rose 8.66% or 19.77 points to trade at 248.18 at the close. Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 6.93% or 0.07 points to end at 1.09 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 5.06% or 0.02 points to 0.41 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN), which lost 2.24% or 0.11 points to trade at 4.79 in late trade. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) declined 2.08% or 0.72 points to end at 33.85 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) shed 1.56% or 0.05 points to 3.16.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 590 to 480 and 471 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 2.49% to 10.54.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.29% or 7.61 to $2,657.19 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.19% or 0.13 to hit $68.59 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.16 to trade at $72.14 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.07% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 98.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 106.16.