Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and IT sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.76% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which rose 11.86% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.660 at the close. Super Retail Group Ltd (AX:SUL) added 8.54% or 0.595 points to end at 7.565 and G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) was up 7.31% or 0.160 points to 2.350 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC), which lost 4.04% or 0.490 points to trade at 11.650 in late trade. Healthscope (AX:HSO) declined 2.83% or 0.070 points to end at 2.400 and CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) shed 2.09% or 0.120 points to 5.610.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 711 to 524 and 388 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 6.36% to 12.051.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.28% or 3.60 to $1309.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.10% or 0.07 to hit $67.86 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.20% or 0.15 to trade at $73.21 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7522, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 82.48.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 92.38.