Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Staples, Telecoms Services and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.48%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Wesfarmers Ltd (AX:WES), which rose 6.21% or 2.560 points to trade at 43.760 at the close. Meanwhile, South32 Ltd (AX:S32) added 5.78% or 0.185 points to end at 3.385 and Premier Investments Ltd (AX:PMV) was up 5.63% or 0.810 points to 15.200 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS), which fell 5.68% or 0.180 points to trade at 2.990 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) declined 3.87% or 0.038 points to end at 0.932 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was down 2.22% or 0.090 points to 3.970.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 686 to 534 and 340 ended unchanged.
Shares in Premier Investments Ltd (AX:PMV) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 5.63% or 0.810 to 15.200.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.92% to 11.729 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.10% or 1.30 to $1316.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $61.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $65.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.05% to 0.7794, while AUD/JPY fell 0.45% to 82.57.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 90.06.