Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Gold sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.59% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN), which rose 8.19% or 0.185 points to trade at 2.445 at the close. Meanwhile, Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP) added 7.92% or 3.220 points to end at 43.870 and TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) was up 4.73% or 0.250 points to 5.530 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Qantas Airways Ltd (AX:QAN), which fell 2.82% or 0.17 points to trade at 5.68 at the close. Webjet Ltd (AX:WEB) declined 2.52% or 0.280 points to end at 10.830 and Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) was down 2.51% or 0.210 points to 8.150.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 685 to 543 and 390 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.21% to 11.860.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.02% or 0.30 to $1317.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.32% or 0.22 to hit $67.97 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.36% or 0.27 to trade at $74.47 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7549, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 82.48.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 91.36.