Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.35%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.35%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were NIB Holdings (AX: NHF ), which rose 5.27% or 0.290 points to trade at 5.790 at the close. Beach Energy Ltd (AX: BPT ) added 5.00% or 0.085 points to end at 1.785 and Independence Group NL (AX: IGO ) was up 4.65% or 0.230 points to 5.180 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Wisetech Global Ltd (AX: WTC ), which lost 5.97% or 1.000 points to trade at 15.760 in late trade. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX: APT ) declined 3.91% or 0.350 points to end at 8.590 and Metcash Ltd (AX: MTS ) shed 3.77% or 0.100 points to 2.550.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 644 to 599 and 443 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 4.60% to 12.996.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.17% or 2.10 to $1254.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.47% or 0.34 to hit $72.42 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.27% or 0.21 to trade at $77.25 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7351, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 81.05.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 95.06.