Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.44%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which rose 12.30% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.05 at the close. Meanwhile, Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) added 7.06% or 0.18 points to end at 2.73 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was up 6.49% or 0.35 points to 5.74 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA), which fell 8.45% or 0.30 points to trade at 3.25 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) declined 4.79% or 0.05 points to end at 0.89 and Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) was down 2.63% or 0.11 points to 4.08.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 759 to 527 and 357 ended unchanged.
Shares in Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA) fell to 5-year lows; falling 8.45% or 0.30 to 3.25. Shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) rose to 3-years highs; rising 6.49% or 0.35 to 5.74. Shares in Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) fell to 52-week lows; falling 2.63% or 0.11 to 4.08.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.28% to 17.65.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.07% or 18.60 to $1,716.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.63% or 0.61 to hit $95.69 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.42% or 0.42 to trade at $99.15 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.16% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 1.23% to 94.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 108.24.