Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Telecoms Services and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.39% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK), which rose 8.55% or 0.37 points to trade at 4.70 at the close. Meanwhile, News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS) added 6.94% or 2.20 points to end at 33.90 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was up 6.31% or 0.570 points to 9.600 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV), which fell 12.48% or 5.06 points to trade at 35.50 at the close. Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK) declined 11.27% or 0.40 points to end at 3.15 and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) was down 5.53% or 6.88 points to 117.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 718 to 661 and 447 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.47% to 11.857.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.29% or 5.15 to $1798.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.66% or 0.52 to hit $79.33 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.30% or 0.24 to trade at $80.78 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7391, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 84.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 94.290.