Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.11%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Infigen Energy (AX:IFN), which rose 4.73% or 0.035 points to trade at 0.775 at the close. Meanwhile, Premier Investments Ltd (AX:PMV) added 3.93% or 0.495 points to end at 13.075 and Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) was up 3.36% or 0.360 points to 11.080 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL), which fell 3.97% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.630 at the close. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 3.66% or 0.050 points to end at 1.315 and OZ Minerals Ltd (AX:OZL) was down 3.21% or 0.240 points to 7.230.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 652 to 536 and 366 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.91% to 11.861 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.44% or 5.66 to $1282.14 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.21% or 0.11 to hit $52.03 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.33% or 0.19 to trade at $57.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.45% to 0.7814, while AUD/JPY fell 0.21% to 88.37.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 93.47.