Australian shares closed higher in thin trade on Thursday mirroring gains on Wall Street, pushed up by financials and basic materials stocks gaining on higher base metal prices. The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.3 percent, or 16.89 points higher, to 5753.3. Trading volumes were 0.7 times the 30-day average. The basic materials index gained 0.42 percent, its highest since September 2, 2014, powered by an overnight surge in copper price on a brightening demand outlook for Chinese metals.
Copper miners Oz Minerals Ltd and Sandfire Resources NL gained 3.42 percent and 3.61 percent respectively. Mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd rose 0.1 percent, tracking three consecutive session of gains, while peer Rio Tinto Ltd gained 0.2 percent. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended flat as losses in industrials and consumer cyclicals were offset by gains in telecom services and utilities.
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