Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.00%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT), which rose 10.04% or 12.15 points to trade at 133.15 at the close. Meanwhile, Scentre Group Ltd (ASX:SCG) added 5.04% or 0.14 points to end at 2.92 and Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (ASX:VCX) was up 4.95% or 0.075 points to 1.590 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV), which fell 8.30% or 0.230 points to trade at 2.540 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 7.84% or 0.060 points to end at 0.705 and Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) was down 4.66% or 1.310 points to 26.780.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 768 to 587 and 329 ended unchanged.
Shares in Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) rose to all time highs; gaining 10.04% or 12.15 to 133.15.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.12% to 14.450.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.08% or 1.50 to $1849.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.88% or 0.47 to hit $53.10 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 1.24% or 0.70 to trade at $55.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.33% to 0.7751, while AUD/JPY fell 0.44% to 80.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 90.317.