Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, A-REITs and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.13%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which rose 9.73% or 0.39 points to trade at 4.40 at the close. Meanwhile, Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF) added 5.23% or 0.24 points to end at 4.83 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 5.19% or 0.60 points to 12.16 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which fell 4.47% or 0.110 points to trade at 2.350 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) declined 4.17% or 0.075 points to end at 1.725 and ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ) was down 4.05% or 0.55 points to 13.03.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 710 to 685 and 410 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.29% to 12.133.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.07% or 1.35 to $1868.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.23% or 0.95 to hit $76.60 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.03% or 0.83 to trade at $79.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.32% to 0.7289, while AUD/JPY rose 0.31% to 83.14.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 95.680.