Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, IT and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.07%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 8.00% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.54 at the close. Meanwhile, Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) added 5.89% or 0.46 points to end at 8.27 and News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS) was up 4.68% or 1.16 points to 25.96 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which fell 6.67% or 0.05 points to trade at 0.63 at the close. Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) declined 6.32% or 0.09 points to end at 1.34 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) was down 6.17% or 0.10 points to 1.52.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 646 to 595 and 441 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.66% to 11.77.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.20% or 3.95 to $2,016.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.13% or 0.09 to hit $70.78 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.23% or 0.17 to trade at $74.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.24% to 90.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 101.79.