Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Healthcare and IT sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which rose 3.50% or 0.045 points to trade at 1.330 at the close. Oil Search Ltd (AX:OSH) added 3.47% or 0.270 points to end at 8.050 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) was up 3.09% or 0.500 points to 16.700 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 4.85% or 0.190 points to trade at 3.730 in late trade. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 4.23% or 0.075 points to end at 1.700 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) shed 3.01% or 0.080 points to 2.580.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 665 to 548 and 364 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 0.50% to 10.378.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.67% or 8.80 to $1309.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.75% or 0.46 to hit $62.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.28 to trade at $68.12 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7837, while AUD/JPY rose 0.12% to 88.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 91.90.