Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and A-REITs 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 Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA), which rose 7.30% or 0.78 points to trade at 11.46 at the close. Meanwhile, Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) added 4.74% or 0.14 points to end at 2.99 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) was up 4.51% or 0.31 points to 7.18 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which fell 8.16% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.22 at the close. ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) declined 8.01% or 5.06 points to end at 58.14 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was down 5.10% or 0.03 points to 0.47.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 594 to 555 and 477 ended unchanged.
Shares in Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 7.30% or 0.78 to 11.46.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.70% to 10.90.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.12% or 26.30 to $2,328.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.39% or 0.31 to hit $78.19 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.39% or 0.32 to trade at $82.28 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.29% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 104.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 104.42.