Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.33%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.33%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX: SWM ), which rose 7.18% or 0.065 points to trade at 0.970 at the close. Estia Health Ltd (AX: EHE ) added 5.31% or 0.285 points to end at 5.655 and Worleyparsons Ltd (AX: WOR ) was up 5.03% or 0.260 points to 5.430 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Tassal Group Ltd (AX: TGR ), which lost 7.35% or 0.280 points to trade at 3.530 in late trade. Nine Ent Fpo (AX: NEC ) declined 5.27% or 0.063 points to end at 1.123 and Iluka Resources Ltd (AX: ILU ) shed 5.12% or 0.330 points to 6.120.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 547 to 374 and 350 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 5.09% to 17.753.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.51% or 6.20 to $1230.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.98% or 0.37 to hit $38.12 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.78% or 0.31 to trade at $40.15 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.32% to 0.7621, while AUD/JPY fell 0.54% to 82.97.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.25% at 94.25.