Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.12% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP), which rose 7.65% or 4.100 points to trade at 57.660 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) added 5.76% or 0.160 points to end at 2.940 and Orora Fpo (AX:ORA) was up 5.05% or 0.150 points to 3.120 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS), which lost 6.36% or 0.330 points to trade at 4.860 in late trade. TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) declined 5.22% or 0.350 points to end at 6.350 and Vocus Fpo (AX:VOC) shed 4.65% or 0.200 points to 4.100.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 592 to 501 and 346 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 4.35% to 11.480 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.26% or 3.15 to $1236.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $53.05 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.02 to trade at $55.73 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7710, while AUD/JPY fell 0.25% to 87.79.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 100.91.