Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Materials, Industrials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.38%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP), which rose 6.56% or 0.17 points to trade at 2.76 at the close. Meanwhile, Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) added 4.35% or 0.075 points to end at 1.800 and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) was up 4.23% or 0.090 points to 2.220 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Avita Therapeutics Inc (ASX:AVH), which fell 4.78% or 0.320 points to trade at 6.380 at the close. Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) declined 2.79% or 0.30 points to end at 10.46 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was down 2.69% or 0.09 points to 3.25.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 594 to 578 and 368 ended unchanged.
Shares in Avita Therapeutics Inc (ASX:AVH) fell to 52-week lows; down 4.78% or 0.320 to 6.380.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.56% to 20.657.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.08% or 1.45 to $1798.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.07% or 0.03 to hit $40.72 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.23% or 0.10 to trade at $43.27 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.6985, while AUD/JPY rose 0.16% to 74.87.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 96.267.