Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Healthcare and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which rose 16.22% or 0.28 points to trade at 1.97 at the close. Webjet Ltd (AX:WEB) added 16.04% or 1.660 points to end at 12.010 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT) was up 10.37% or 5.190 points to 55.260 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL), which lost 14.73% or 23.50 points to trade at 136.00 in late trade. Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) declined 5.83% or 0.030 points to end at 0.485 and Iress Ltd (AX:IRE) shed 5.35% or 0.620 points to 10.970.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 621 to 612 and 372 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 2.15% to 14.267.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.47% or 6.20 to $1325.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.96% or 0.59 to hit $61.09 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.69% or 0.45 to trade at $64.97 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.04% to 0.7807, while AUD/JPY fell 0.31% to 83.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 90.05.