Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.45%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which rose 9.16% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.370 at the close. Meanwhile, Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX:TWE) added 6.07% or 0.620 points to end at 10.840 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was up 4.83% or 1.36 points to 29.49 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which fell 5.19% or 0.060 points to trade at 1.095 at the close. Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) declined 4.29% or 0.045 points to end at 1.005 and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) was down 4.17% or 4.89 points to 112.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 776 to 574 and 368 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.62% to 14.910 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.50% or 9.05 to $1833.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.08% or 0.05 to hit $63.87 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7733, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 84.62.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 90.540.