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 added 0.26% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL), which rose 5.09% or 1.04 points to trade at 21.46 at the close. Meanwhile, Brickworks Ltd (ASX:BKW) added 4.81% or 1.10 points to end at 23.97 and Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) was up 3.58% or 0.67 points to 19.40 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which fell 4.63% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.96 at the close. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) declined 4.36% or 0.17 points to end at 3.73 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was down 3.88% or 0.74 points to 18.34.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 791 to 614 and 396 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.00% to 13.47 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.32% or 6.35 to $1,955.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.94% or 1.06 to hit $111.28 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.81% or 0.97 to trade at $118.06 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 0.75, while AUD/JPY fell 0.60% to 91.34.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 98.58.