Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Real Estate Investment and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU), which rose 10.76% or 0.790 points to trade at 8.130 at the close. Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX) added 4.79% or 0.750 points to end at 16.420 and Henderson Group PLC (AX:HGG) was up 4.29% or 0.165 points to 4.015 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 6.44% or 0.065 points to trade at 0.945 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 4.84% or 0.105 points to end at 2.065 and Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (AX:BOQ) shed 4.60% or 0.560 points to 11.610.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 583 to 499 and 354 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 0.53% to 13.710.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.19% or 2.40 to $1281.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.29% or 0.15 to hit $51.00 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.38% or 0.20 to trade at $53.13 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7508, while AUD/JPY rose 0.16% to 81.75.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 99.60.