Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Staples and Gold sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.00%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO), which rose 9.56% or 6.450 points to trade at 73.950 at the close. Meanwhile, James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX:JHX) added 7.77% or 1.920 points to end at 26.620 and Bingo Industries Ltd (ASX:BIN) was up 7.69% or 0.180 points to 2.520 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN), which fell 10.73% or 0.250 points to trade at 2.080 at the close. Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) declined 5.47% or 2.320 points to end at 40.070 and Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) was down 3.05% or 0.250 points to 7.950.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 612 to 532 and 338 ended unchanged.
Shares in Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) rose to all time highs; up 9.56% or 6.450 to 73.950. Shares in James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX:JHX) rose to all time highs; up 7.77% or 1.920 to 26.620.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.56% to 10.937 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.02% or 0.30 to $1492.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.02% or 0.01 to hit $56.34 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $61.72 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.6871, while AUD/JPY fell 0.37% to 74.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 97.835.