Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Industrials, IT and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.36%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 24.45% or 2.670 points to trade at 13.590 at the close. Meanwhile, Cimic Group Ltd (AX:CIM) added 15.49% or 6.630 points to end at 49.430 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 8.30% or 1.270 points to 16.580 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA), which fell 5.87% or 0.470 points to trade at 7.540 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) declined 4.76% or 0.150 points to end at 3.000 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was down 2.82% or 0.060 points to 2.070.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 641 to 549 and 386 ended unchanged.
Shares in Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) rose to all time highs; rising 24.45% or 2.670 to 13.590.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.47% to 12.247.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.42% or 5.10 to $1222.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.21% or 0.14 to hit $67.61 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.25% or 0.18 to trade at $72.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.16% to 0.7410, while AUD/JPY rose 0.11% to 83.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 94.86.