Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.51% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Worleyparsons Ltd (ASX:WOR), which rose 8.79% or 0.80 points to trade at 9.90 at the close. Meanwhile, Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) added 7.42% or 0.490 points to end at 7.090 and Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX:LYC) was up 7.02% or 0.004 points to 0.061 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI), which fell 7.78% or 0.018 points to trade at 0.207 at the close. Steadfast F (ASX:SDF) declined 7.35% or 0.12 points to end at 1.45 and Skilled Group Ltd (ASX:SKE) was down 6.29% or 0.090 points to 1.340.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 352 to 226 and 31 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 8.88% to 14.082.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.43% or 5.60 to $1295.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 2.03% or 0.94 to hit $47.25 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 1.54% or 0.76 to trade at $49.64 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.41% to 0.7990, while AUD/JPY fell 0.54% to 94.57.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 94.61.