Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.10%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.10%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 16.73% or 0.22 points to trade at 1.50 at the close. Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) added 11.11% or 0.05 points to end at 0.45 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 8.59% or 0.06 points to 0.69 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX:NEC), which lost 3.21% or 0.04 points to trade at 1.21 in late trade. Spark New Zealand Ltd (ASX:SPK) declined 2.81% or 0.09 points to end at 3.11 and Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) shed 2.76% or 0.10 points to 3.52.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 715 to 386 and 416 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 2.37% to 12.22.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.22% or 5.55 to $2,547.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.31% or 0.88 to hit $68.19 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.37% or 0.97 to trade at $71.58 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.30% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.33% to 95.42.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 101.71.