Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.49% to hit a new all time high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB), which rose 6.26% or 2.65 points to trade at 45.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) added 5.36% or 0.240 points to end at 4.720 and Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) was up 5.12% or 0.53 points to 10.89 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR), which fell 8.22% or 0.155 points to trade at 1.730 at the close. Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) declined 7.69% or 0.150 points to end at 1.800 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was down 6.28% or 0.82 points to 12.24.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 726 to 639 and 392 ended unchanged.
Shares in ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) rose to all time highs; gaining 6.26% or 2.65 to 45.00.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.73% to 13.432.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.09% or 1.70 to $1875.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.52% or 0.36 to hit $69.17 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.45% or 0.32 to trade at $71.63 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.10% to 0.7666, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 84.47.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 90.545.