Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Telecoms Services and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.52% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 16.54% or 0.11 points to trade at 0.78 at the close. Meanwhile, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) added 12.63% or 0.50 points to end at 4.46 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was up 5.99% or 0.16 points to 2.83 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS), which fell 4.39% or 1.43 points to trade at 31.14 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) declined 4.38% or 0.66 points to end at 14.40 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 4.04% or 0.26 points to 6.17.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 859 to 444 and 400 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.84% to 16.25 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.69% or 11.75 to $1,688.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.27% or 1.27 to hit $98.61 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 1.07% or 1.14 to trade at $105.78 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 95.32.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 106.81.