Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.68%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pacific Brands Ltd (AX:PBG), which rose 23.14% or 0.218 points to trade at 1.157 at the close. Broadspectrum Ltd (AX:BRS) added 6.67% or 0.070 points to end at 1.120 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was up 6.37% or 0.195 points to 3.255 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which lost 10.42% or 0.345 points to trade at 2.965 in late trade. Flexigroup Ltd (AX:FXL) declined 4.12% or 0.100 points to end at 2.330 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) shed 4.10% or 0.080 points to 1.870.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 614 to 401 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 down 5.62% to 17.885.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.44% or 5.45 to $1255.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.71% or 0.32 to hit $45.01 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.70% or 0.33 to trade at $46.60 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7614, while AUD/JPY fell 2.10% to 82.90.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.38% at 94.02.