Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Healthcare and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.09%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were New Hope Corporation Ltd (ASX:NHC), which rose 6.57% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.270 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) added 6.15% or 0.020 points to end at 0.345 and CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) was up 4.59% or 0.190 points to 4.330 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX:JIN), which fell 7.97% or 1.770 points to trade at 20.440 at the close. Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) declined 7.58% or 2.020 points to end at 24.640 and Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC) was down 5.26% or 0.150 points to 2.700.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 573 to 558 and 343 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.56% to 11.314 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.14% or 2.05 to $1512.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.26% or 0.14 to hit $54.32 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $59.63 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.6907, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 74.58.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 97.018.