Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, IT and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.68%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN), which rose 6.16% or 0.18 points to trade at 3.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) added 5.10% or 0.08 points to end at 1.54 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was up 4.44% or 0.01 points to 0.24 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which fell 14.02% or 0.23 points to trade at 1.38 at the close. Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL) declined 7.07% or 1.11 points to end at 14.58 and Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) was down 4.28% or 0.04 points to 0.90.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 599 to 559 and 463 ended unchanged.
Shares in Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC) fell to 3-years lows; falling 14.02% or 0.23 to 1.38. Shares in Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL) fell to 3-years lows; losing 7.07% or 1.11 to 14.58.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.53% to 10.86.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.35% or 8.25 to $2,383.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.49% or 0.36 to hit $74.43 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.37% or 0.29 to trade at $78.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 103.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 104.20.