Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.04%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:DOW), which rose 5.69% or 0.410 points to trade at 7.610 at the close. Meanwhile, Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) added 5.13% or 0.40 points to end at 8.20 and Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX:PNI) was up 4.34% or 0.20 points to 4.81 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX:IAG), which fell 5.44% or 0.420 points to trade at 7.300 at the close. Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) declined 4.99% or 0.44 points to end at 8.37 and Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) was down 4.96% or 0.030 points to 0.575.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 576 to 548 and 385 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.67% to 11.951.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.31% or 4.85 to $1560.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.36% or 0.20 to hit $55.79 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.37% or 0.23 to trade at $62.27 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.02% to 0.6845, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 74.98.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 97.507.