Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Energy and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.68%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX), which rose 35.80% or 0.502 points to trade at 1.903 at the close. Seven Group Holdings Ltd (AX:SVW) added 10.05% or 0.550 points to end at 6.020 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was up 6.75% or 0.135 points to 2.135 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nsreit Stapled (AX:NSR), which lost 4.05% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.660 in late trade. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 3.75% or 0.115 points to end at 2.955 and BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) shed 2.71% or 0.220 points to 7.900.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 773 to 384 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 5.33% to 19.372.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.59% or 7.80 to $1319.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.08% or 0.54 to hit $49.34 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.09% or 0.56 to trade at $50.76 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.35% to 0.7425, while AUD/JPY fell 0.56% to 76.19.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.29% at 95.97.