Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Staples and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.26% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 3.74% or 0.170 points to trade at 4.710 at the close. Meanwhile, A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) added 3.68% or 0.420 points to end at 11.840 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was up 3.60% or 0.120 points to 3.450 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which fell 5.67% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.915 at the close. Infigen Energy Ltd (AX:IFN) declined 3.26% or 0.015 points to end at 0.445 and oOh!Media Ltd (AX:OML) was down 3.10% or 0.120 points to 3.750.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 564 to 525 and 332 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.40% to 12.571 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.12% or 1.55 to $1292.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.57% or 0.30 to hit $52.01 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.44% or 0.27 to trade at $61.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7158, while AUD/JPY fell 0.24% to 77.98.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 95.785.