Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.13% to hit a new all time high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 7.69% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.560 at the close. Meanwhile, Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) added 5.91% or 0.120 points to end at 2.150 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 5.56% or 0.73 points to 13.85 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which fell 3.83% or 0.15 points to trade at 3.77 at the close. AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) declined 3.00% or 0.48 points to end at 15.51 and Hub24 Ltd (ASX:HUB) was down 2.60% or 0.69 points to 25.81.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 809 to 512 and 436 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 12.52% to 11.329.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.35% or 6.55 to $1902.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.10% or 0.07 to hit $70.36 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $72.57 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.23% to 0.7770, while AUD/JPY rose 0.34% to 85.03.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 90.030.