Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Information Technology, Australian Real Estate Investment Trust and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.41% to hit a new 3-year high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX:BDR), which rose 5.88% or 0.015 points to trade at 0.270 at the close. Meanwhile, Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd (ASX:AGI) added 5.45% or 0.150 points to end at 2.900 and APN News & Media Ltd (ASX:APN) was up 5.04% or 0.048 points to 0.990 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR), which fell 18.18% or 0.480 points to trade at 2.160 at the close. Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX:SEA) declined 7.14% or 0.035 points to end at 0.455 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 5.33% or 0.080 points to 1.420.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 306 to 278 and 36 ended unchanged.
Shares in APN News & Media Ltd (ASX:APN) rose to 3-year highs; up 5.04% or 0.048 to 0.990.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.34% to 12.403 a new 3-month low.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.06% or 0.70 to $1168.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in May fell 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $45.51 a barrel, while the May Brent Oil contract rose 0.31% or 0.17 to trade at $54.54 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.44% to 0.7684, while AUD/JPY rose 0.38% to 92.75.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 99.19.