Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Energy and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.64%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST), which rose 5.04% or 0.570 points to trade at 11.880 at the close. Meanwhile, Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) added 4.48% or 0.060 points to end at 1.400 and Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC) was up 4.40% or 0.160 points to 3.800 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which fell 2.13% or 0.080 points to trade at 3.670 at the close. NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH) declined 1.26% or 0.040 points to end at 3.130 and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) was down 1.18% or 0.360 points to 30.270.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 744 to 353 and 315 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.29% to 13.051.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.08% or 16.55 to $1544.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.83% or 1.73 to hit $62.91 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.93% or 1.94 to trade at $68.19 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.46% to 0.6960, while AUD/JPY fell 0.86% to 75.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 96.490.