Investing.com – Australia’s stock market was higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the and sectors pushed shares higher.

At the close in Sydney it gained 0.43%.

The best performers of the session were: Appen narrow liability company (ASX:), which increased by 6.90%, or 0.14 points, to reach 2.17 at the close. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:) rose 6.76% or 3.24 points to close at 51.18 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) rose 4.48% or 0.02 points , to 0.35 in the final session.

They performed the worst during the session Fletcher Building Limited (ASX:), which fell by 2.43%, or 0.07 points, to close at 2.81. Nanosounds Ltd (ASX:) fell 1.64% or 0.06 points to close at 3.59 and Ansell Ltd (ASX:) fell 2.20% or 0.72 points to 32.04 .

Share gains outweighed declines on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 619 to 474, with 453 ending unchanged.

The index measuring the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options fell 2.63% to 11.58.

Gold futures for December delivery rose 0.22%, or 5.80, to $2,631.80 per troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodity trading, crude oil for November delivery rose 0.85%, or 0.62, to $73.86 a barrel, while the December Brent crude contract rose 0.80%, or 0.61, reaching a price of $77.19 per barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.28% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 100.57.

U.S. Dollar Index futures fell 0.01% to 102.69.