Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Gold and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.69%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Xero Ltd (AX:XRO), which rose 10.75% or 5.840 points to trade at 60.150 at the close. Meanwhile, Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) added 6.81% or 0.130 points to end at 2.040 and oOh!Media Ltd (AX:OML) was up 5.34% or 0.190 points to 3.750 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Westpac Banking Corp (AX:WBC), which fell 4.22% or 1.135 points to trade at 25.755 at the close. Mcmillan Shakespeare Ltd (AX:MMS) declined 4.02% or 0.530 points to end at 12.670 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) was down 3.33% or 0.110 points to 3.190.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 682 to 452 and 391 ended unchanged.
Shares in Xero Ltd (AX:XRO) rose to all time highs; gaining 10.75% or 5.840 to 60.150.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.38% to 13.460.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.02% or 0.25 to $1297.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.55% or 0.34 to hit $62.36 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.43% or 0.31 to trade at $72.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.22% to 0.6912, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 75.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.345.