Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Utilities and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.71%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN), which rose 4.97% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.590 at the close. Meanwhile, Spark Infrastructure Group (AX:SKI) added 3.21% or 0.070 points to end at 2.250 and Atlas Arteria (AX:ALX) was up 2.74% or 0.185 points to 6.945 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA), which fell 3.84% or 0.160 points to trade at 4.010 at the close. Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL) declined 3.23% or 4.42 points to end at 132.56 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) was down 2.27% or 0.240 points to 10.310.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 690 to 445 and 366 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.48% to 10.654 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.04% or 0.50 to $1187.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.26% or 0.19 to hit $72.31 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.18% or 0.15 to trade at $81.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.19% to 0.7222, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 81.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 94.55.