Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, IT and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.25% to hit a new 52-week high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC), which rose 7.91% or 0.085 points to trade at 1.160 at the close. Meanwhile, Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) added 6.77% or 0.110 points to end at 1.735 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 5.38% or 0.025 points to 0.490 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which fell 5.62% or 0.24 points to trade at 4.03 at the close. Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW) declined 4.52% or 0.25 points to end at 5.28 and Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) was down 3.86% or 1.600 points to 39.810.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 779 to 579 and 378 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) fell to all time lows; losing 5.62% or 0.24 to 4.03.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 8.85% to 10.858.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.31% or 5.45 to $1779.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.58% or 0.37 to hit $64.23 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.38 to trade at $67.16 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.06% to 0.7793, while AUD/JPY rose 0.32% to 84.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 90.610.