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 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF), which rose 6.15% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.490 at the close. Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) added 5.31% or 0.190 points to end at 3.770 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX:ALG) was up 3.15% or 0.040 points to 1.310 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX), which lost 12.05% or 0.100 points to trade at 0.730 in late trade. Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH) declined 7.58% or 0.210 points to end at 2.560 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT) shed 4.65% or 2.100 points to 43.050.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 598 to 513 and 380 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 4.48% to 11.582.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.19% or 15.55 to $1317.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.10% or 0.06 to hit $60.17 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.06 to trade at $68.56 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.41% to 0.7144, while AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 78.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 95.398.