After the market closed on Thursday, Australian equities rose as increases in the consumer discretionary, information technology, and A-REIT sectors drove up share prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 increased 0.79% at the Sydney market’s close.
The S&P/ASX 200’s top session performer was Orora Ltd. (ASX:ORA), which increased 14.83% or 0.43 points to close at 3.33. Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX:CTD) was up 9.97% or 1.57 points to 17.32 in the late afternoon, and Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) gained 14.25% or 4.14 points to close at 33.20.
AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) was the session’s worst performer, falling 13.36% or 0.18 points to close at $1.13.NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) was down 5.41% or 0.16 points to 2.80, while Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) was down 9.54% or 0.12 points to conclude at 1.09.
On the Sydney Stock Exchange, advancing issues outpaced descending ones, 756 to 531, while 396 finished unchanged.
The indicator of implied volatility for S&P/ASX 200 options, known as the S&P/ASX 200 VIX, increased 0.44% to 12.66.
To reach $1,848.65 per troy ounce, gold futures for April delivery increased by 0.18%, or 3.35. Crude oil for March delivery increased by 0.94% or 0.74 to reach $79.33 per barrel, while the April Brent oil contract increased by 0.69% or 0.59 to achieve $85.97 per barrel.
While AUD/JPY increased 0.03% to 92.61, AUD/USD remained stable at 0.69, up 0.28%.
At 103.61, the US Dollar Index Futures were down 0.23%.