Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Consumer Discretionary and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.10%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which rose 8.93% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.305 at the close. Meanwhile, Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE) added 6.04% or 0.160 points to end at 2.810 and Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF) was up 5.87% or 0.340 points to 6.130 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV), which fell 5.84% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.855 at the close. AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) declined 2.83% or 0.290 points to end at 9.950 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 2.65% or 0.070 points to 2.570.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 574 to 454 and 334 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.60% to 12.279.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.01% or 0.15 to $1522.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.23% or 0.14 to hit $61.20 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.29% or 0.19 to trade at $66.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.25% to 0.6999, while AUD/JPY fell 0.22% to 76.10.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 96.270.