Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.49%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which rose 7.45% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.25 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) added 7.34% or 0.04 points to end at 0.58 and Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL) was up 6.27% or 0.91 points to 15.42 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which fell 6.35% or 0.19 points to trade at 2.80 at the close. Orora Ltd (ASX:ORA) declined 3.20% or 0.07 points to end at 2.12 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was down 2.91% or 0.05 points to 1.58.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 582 to 556 and 495 ended unchanged.
Shares in Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) rose to 3-years highs; up 7.34% or 0.04 to 0.58.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.34% to 10.63 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.08% or 2.00 to $2,392.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.05% or 0.04 to hit $75.59 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.01% or 0.01 to trade at $79.88 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.17% to 103.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 104.03.