Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.39%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.39%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pact Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: PGH ), which rose 11.40% or 0.260 points to trade at 2.540 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (ASX: MYX ) added 9.38% or 0.045 points to end at 0.525 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALG ) was up 6.97% or 0.070 points to 1.075 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Cromwell Property Group (ASX: CMW ), which lost 7.57% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.160 in late trade. Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (ASX: VCX ) declined 5.04% or 0.130 points to end at 2.450 and Charter Hall Retail Reit (ASX: CQR ) shed 4.91% or 0.230 points to 4.450.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 674 to 569 and 418 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 3.67% to 12.545 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.63% or 8.85 to $1406.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.45% or 0.27 to hit $59.11 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.47% or 0.31 to trade at $65.38 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.6989, while AUD/JPY rose 0.43% to 75.58.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 95.893.