Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.03%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold , Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.03%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nufarm Ltd (AX: NUF ), which rose 6.15% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.490 at the close. Speedcast International Ltd (AX: SDA ) added 5.31% or 0.190 points to end at 3.770 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX: ALG ) was up 3.15% or 0.040 points to 1.310 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ), which lost 12.05% or 0.100 points to trade at 0.730 in late trade. Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX: PGH ) declined 7.58% or 0.210 points to end at 2.560 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX: FLT ) shed 4.65% or 2.100 points to 43.050.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 598 to 513 and 380 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 4.48% to 11.582.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.19% or 15.55 to $1317.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.10% or 0.06 to hit $60.17 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.06 to trade at $68.56 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.41% to 0.7144, while AUD/JPY rose 0.28% to 78.97.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 95.398.