Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.68% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bingo Industries Ltd (ASX:BIN), which rose 8.73% or 0.220 points to trade at 2.740 at the close. Meanwhile, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) added 6.57% or 7.15 points to end at 116.00 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) was up 6.33% or 0.33 points to 5.54 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO), which fell 4.23% or 0.320 points to trade at 7.250 at the close. Deterra Royalties Ltd (ASX:DRR) declined 3.90% or 0.19 points to end at 4.68 and Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) was down 3.78% or 0.055 points to 1.400.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 723 to 584 and 364 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.93% to 13.560.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.25% or 4.75 to $1908.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.79% or 0.40 to hit $51.23 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.81% or 0.44 to trade at $54.82 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7778, while AUD/JPY rose 0.24% to 80.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 89.898.