Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.17%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Primary Health Care Ltd (AX:PRY), which rose 5.98% or 0.220 points to trade at 3.900 at the close. Healthscope (AX:HSO) added 5.45% or 0.110 points to end at 2.130 and Cromwell Property Group (AX:CMW) was up 3.93% or 0.038 points to 0.993 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which lost 5.47% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.590 in late trade. Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) declined 3.97% or 0.025 points to end at 0.605 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) shed 3.71% or 0.180 points to 4.670.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 543 to 536 and 356 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 0.94% to 11.967.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.38% or 4.88 to $1267.12 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.87% or 0.42 to hit $48.74 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.81% or 0.41 to trade at $51.17 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.34% to 0.7405, while AUD/JPY fell 0.16% to 82.18.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 96.98.