Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.25% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ), which rose 7.89% or 0.75 points to trade at 10.25 at the close. Meanwhile, Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) added 7.62% or 2.30 points to end at 32.48 and Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK) was up 5.53% or 0.14 points to 2.67 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Elders Ltd (ASX:ELD), which fell 4.52% or 0.52 points to trade at 10.98 at the close. Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX:RWC) declined 4.04% or 0.18 points to end at 4.28 and Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) was down 3.94% or 0.410 points to 10.000.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 646 to 621 and 349 ended unchanged.
Shares in ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ) rose to 5-year highs; gaining 7.89% or 0.75 to 10.25.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.39% to 15.312.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.63% or 11.85 to $1862.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.07% or 0.03 to hit $41.98 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.25% or 0.11 to trade at $44.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.7295, while AUD/JPY fell 0.14% to 75.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 92.442.