Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.80%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 9.01% or 0.123 points to trade at 1.482 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 7.98% or 0.170 points to end at 2.300 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 6.94% or 0.270 points to 4.160 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ozforex Grp (AX:OFX), which lost 8.06% or 0.170 points to trade at 1.940 in late trade. Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX:SPK) declined 3.12% or 0.110 points to end at 3.415 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) shed 2.83% or 0.840 points to 28.850.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 685 to 388 and 328 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 11.75% to 13.478.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.32% or 4.25 to $1335.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.86% or 0.39 to hit $45.73 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.77% or 0.36 to trade at $47.19 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7637, while AUD/JPY rose 0.22% to 76.67.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.07% at 95.39.