Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 5.41% or 0.295 points to trade at 5.745 at the close. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) added 3.99% or 0.033 points to end at 0.848 and Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) was up 3.81% or 0.170 points to 4.630 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which lost 4.78% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.390 in late trade. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) declined 3.52% or 0.180 points to end at 4.940 and Iron Mountain Inc (AX:INM) shed 3.14% or 1.45 points to 44.68.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 605 to 474 and 349 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 3.11% to 12.951.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.14% or 1.84 to $1291.36 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.50% or 0.23 to hit $45.95 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.67% or 0.32 to trade at $48.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7550, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 82.62.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 96.60.