Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.29%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold , Real Estate Investment and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.29% to hit a new 1-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (AX: NAN ), which rose 4.08% or 0.120 points to trade at 3.060 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) added 3.85% or 0.180 points to end at 4.850 and Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX: AHG ) was up 3.79% or 0.055 points to 1.505 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX: CGC ), which lost 38.81% or 2.860 points to trade at 4.510 in late trade. Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX: TWE ) declined 4.78% or 0.715 points to end at 14.240 and Invocare Ltd (AX: IVC ) shed 3.54% or 0.390 points to 10.640.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 574 to 485 and 355 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 4.36% to 15.192 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.39% or 5.05 to $1297.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 1.11% or 0.58 to hit $51.78 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.93% or 0.57 to trade at $60.87 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.27% to 0.7189, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 77.58.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 94.690.