Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Consumer Staples and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.18%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 10.45% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.740 at the close. G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (AX:GUD) added 9.42% or 0.680 points to end at 7.900 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) was up 6.94% or 0.650 points to 10.020 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX), which lost 4.60% or 0.290 points to trade at 6.010 in late trade. Caltex Australia Ltd (AX:CTX) declined 3.39% or 1.145 points to end at 32.605 and Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) shed 2.57% or 0.055 points to 2.085.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 605 to 400 and 313 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 2.49% to 16.737.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.99% or 12.30 to $1236.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.27% or 0.53 to hit $41.23 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 1.27% or 0.56 to trade at $43.62 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7653, while AUD/JPY rose 0.08% to 83.75.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.20% at 95.00.