Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.19% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:PDL), which rose 6.96% or 0.640 points to trade at 9.840 at the close. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (AX:WPL) added 5.36% or 1.735 points to end at 34.085 and Oil Search Ltd (AX:OSH) was up 5.19% or 0.420 points to 8.510 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Link Administration Holdings Ltd (AX:LNK), which lost 9.11% or 0.720 points to trade at 7.180 in late trade. Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL) declined 6.94% or 0.290 points to end at 3.890 and Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA) shed 4.02% or 0.290 points to 6.930.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 643 to 555 and 405 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 0.23% to 11.345.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.01% or 0.10 to $1312.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.66% or 0.47 to hit $71.61 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.48 to trade at $77.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.01% to 0.7460, while AUD/JPY rose 0.11% to 81.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 92.94.