Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Materials and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 8.70% or 1.110 points to trade at 13.870 at the close. Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) added 8.59% or 1.820 points to end at 23.000 and Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) was up 6.50% or 1.140 points to 18.670 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN), which lost 5.29% or 0.120 points to trade at 2.150 in late trade. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) declined 4.33% or 0.045 points to end at 0.995 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) shed 4.32% or 0.330 points to 7.310.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 673 to 514 and 340 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 5.24% to 15.332.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.35% or 4.30 to $1231.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.52% or 0.26 to hit $50.57 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.11 to trade at $59.20 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7317, while AUD/JPY fell 0.23% to 82.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 96.602.