Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.05%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.05%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Flight Centre Ltd (AX: FLT ), which rose 11.26% or 4.995 points to trade at 49.365 at the close. Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX: CGC ) added 6.09% or 0.300 points to end at 5.230 and Bega Cheese Ltd (AX: BGA ) was up 5.48% or 0.355 points to 6.835 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Trade Me Group Ltd (AX: TME ), which lost 7.61% or 0.340 points to trade at 4.130 in late trade. Qube Holdings Ltd (AX: QUB ) declined 6.47% or 0.180 points to end at 2.600 and Nanosonics Ltd (AX: NAN ) shed 6.36% or 0.150 points to 2.210.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 590 to 563 and 363 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 7.97% to 12.395.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.38 to $1295.08 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.10% or 0.05 to hit $48.36 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $52.58 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.7893, while AUD/JPY fell 0.09% to 86.11.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 93.21.