Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment, IT and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.55% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were James Hardie Industries PLC (AX:JHX), which rose 7.60% or 1.440 points to trade at 20.390 at the close. Navitas Ltd (AX:NVT) added 6.25% or 0.300 points to end at 5.100 and Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) was up 5.88% or 0.035 points to 0.630 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC), which lost 3.72% or 0.090 points to trade at 2.330 in late trade. Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP) declined 3.47% or 1.670 points to end at 46.430 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) shed 3.45% or 0.025 points to 0.700.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 744 to 519 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 up 0.62% to 11.569.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.08% or 0.98 to $1284.68 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $56.81 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $63.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.03% to 0.7678, while AUD/JPY fell 0.31% to 87.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 94.69.