Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.49%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.49% to hit a new 5-year high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA ), which rose 9.88% or 0.170 points to trade at 1.890 at the close. Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB ) added 8.74% or 0.950 points to end at 11.820 and Eclipx Group Ltd (ASX: ECX ) was up 7.08% or 0.085 points to 1.285 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS ), which lost 5.77% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.490 in late trade. Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS ) declined 4.72% or 0.220 points to end at 4.440 and Invocare Ltd (ASX: IVC ) shed 3.10% or 0.510 points to 15.940.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 713 to 458 and 356 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 7.63% to 10.539 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.30% or 4.25 to $1416.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.12% or 0.64 to hit $56.70 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.10% or 0.70 to trade at $63.12 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7034, while AUD/JPY rose 0.08% to 75.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 96.360.