Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.40%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR), which rose 7.29% or 0.090 points to trade at 1.325 at the close. Meanwhile, Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX:JIN) added 5.57% or 0.820 points to end at 15.550 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was up 5.02% or 0.060 points to 1.255 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were AusNet Services Ltd (ASX:AST), which fell 1.98% or 0.035 points to trade at 1.730 at the close. GWA Group Ltd (ASX:GWA) declined 1.73% or 0.060 points to end at 3.400 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was down 1.15% or 0.030 points to 2.570.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 694 to 385 and 312 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.24% to 10.954.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.08% or 1.25 to $1513.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.23% or 0.14 to hit $61.82 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.15% or 0.10 to trade at $68.02 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.6950, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 76.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 97.045.