Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.20%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.20%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX: RSG ), which rose 9.67% or 0.130 points to trade at 1.475 at the close. Syrah Res F (AX: SYR ) added 9.40% or 0.220 points to end at 2.560 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX: GXY ) was up 6.99% or 0.033 points to 0.497 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Myer Holdings Ltd (AX: MYR ), which lost 5.04% or 0.058 points to trade at 1.083 in late trade. Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX: SKT ) declined 4.12% or 0.140 points to end at 3.260 and Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ) shed 3.98% or 0.160 points to 3.860.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 604 to 503 and 315 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 6.20% to 9.024.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 2.01% or 24.15 to $1224.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.57% or 0.28 to hit $49.14 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.64% or 0.33 to trade at $52.14 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.30% to 0.7687, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 87.10.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 100.41.