Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Telecoms Services and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.28%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which rose 4.60% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.25 at the close. Meanwhile, NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) added 3.43% or 0.09 points to end at 2.56 and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) was up 2.89% or 0.09 points to 3.20 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO), which fell 13.27% or 15.22 points to trade at 99.50 at the close. Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) declined 6.57% or 0.13 points to end at 1.85 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was down 5.70% or 0.02 points to 0.37.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 621 to 579 and 332 ended unchanged.
Shares in EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) rose to 52-week highs; rising 4.60% or 0.06 to 1.25.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.04% to 11.56 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.23% or 4.45 to $1,953.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.12% or 0.09 to hit $75.42 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.15% or 0.12 to trade at $79.66 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 96.79.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 105.39.