Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Gold and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.70% to hit a new 52-week high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 5.83% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.64 at the close. Meanwhile, Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 4.94% or 0.07 points to end at 1.38 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 4.84% or 0.03 points to 0.65 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABG), which fell 4.83% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.13 at the close. Growthpoint Properties Australia (ASX:GOZ) declined 4.47% or 0.11 points to end at 2.35 and Charter Hall Retail Reit (ASX:CQR) was down 2.96% or 0.11 points to 3.61.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 665 to 429 and 329 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.68% to 10.58.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.21% or 4.35 to $2,097.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.13% or 0.10 to hit $74.01 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.04 to trade at $79.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.10% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY fell 0.40% to 96.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 100.49.