Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Financials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.87%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (AX:GUD), which rose 5.79% or 0.710 points to trade at 12.970 at the close. Meanwhile, Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) added 5.38% or 0.070 points to end at 1.370 and Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) was up 4.01% or 0.610 points to 15.840 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR), which fell 6.36% or 0.250 points to trade at 3.680 at the close. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 3.70% or 0.080 points to end at 2.080 and Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG) was down 2.81% or 0.055 points to 1.900.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 723 to 445 and 361 ended unchanged.
Shares in Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) rose to all time highs; gaining 4.01% or 0.610 to 15.840.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.01% to 12.488.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.31% or 4.20 to $1347.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.25% or 0.16 to hit $64.89 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.19 to trade at $69.08 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.8044, while AUD/JPY fell 0.06% to 87.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 88.92.