Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the A-REITs, IT and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.55% to hit a new 5-year high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were James Hardie Industries PLC (AX:JHX), which rose 7.60% or 1.440 points to trade at 20.390 at the close. Meanwhile, Navitas Ltd (AX:NVT) added 6.25% or 0.300 points to end at 5.100 and Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) was up 5.88% or 0.035 points to 0.630 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC), which fell 3.72% or 0.090 points to trade at 2.330 at the close. Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP) declined 3.47% or 1.670 points to end at 46.430 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) was down 3.45% or 0.025 points to 0.700.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 744 to 519 and 355 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.62% to 11.569.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.09% or 1.18 to $1284.88 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $56.80 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $63.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7679, while AUD/JPY fell 0.31% to 87.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 94.68.