Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Staples and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.96%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which rose 7.27% or 0.21 points to trade at 3.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA) added 5.48% or 0.23 points to end at 4.43 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was up 5.11% or 0.10 points to 1.96 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 5.06% or 0.05 points to trade at 0.85 at the close. Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) declined 3.92% or 0.55 points to end at 13.49 and EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) was down 2.59% or 0.03 points to 0.94.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 675 to 490 and 472 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) rose to 52-week highs; up 7.27% or 0.21 to 3.10.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.59% to 11.54.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.10% or 2.25 to $2,364.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.15% or 0.12 to hit $77.79 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.02 to trade at $81.86 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 104.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 104.81.