Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.87% to hit a new 3-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC), which rose 11.51% or 0.890 points to trade at 8.620 at the close. Meanwhile, Galaxy Resources Ltd (ASX:GXY) added 5.88% or 0.060 points to end at 1.080 and Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) was up 4.49% or 0.260 points to 6.050 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were G8 Education Ltd (ASX:GEM), which fell 6.57% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.990 at the close. Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA) declined 3.70% or 0.035 points to end at 0.910 and Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (ASX:SOL) was down 2.92% or 0.670 points to 22.260.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 673 to 513 and 339 ended unchanged.
Shares in G8 Education Ltd (ASX:GEM) fell to 52-week lows; losing 6.57% or 0.140 to 1.990.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.64% to 10.795.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.65% or 9.55 to $1463.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.32% or 0.18 to hit $56.95 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.16 to trade at $62.44 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.11% to 0.6794, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 73.78.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 98.040.