Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Financials and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which rose 7.00% or 0.035 points to trade at 0.535 at the close. Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL) added 6.71% or 10.13 points to end at 161.12 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 4.11% or 0.750 points to 19.020 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (AX:TAH), which lost 6.85% or 0.350 points to trade at 4.760 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 4.09% or 0.130 points to end at 3.050 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) shed 3.12% or 0.100 points to 3.110.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 662 to 567 and 308 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 3.92% to 19.284.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.08% or 1.10 to $1313.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.32% or 0.20 to hit $61.59 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.20% or 0.13 to trade at $65.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.04% to 0.7826, while AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 85.80.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 90.17.