Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Industrials and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.11% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS), which rose 13.19% or 3.31 points to trade at 28.41 at the close. Meanwhile, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) added 7.96% or 0.64 points to end at 8.68 and Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK) was up 7.12% or 0.19 points to 2.86 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Janus Henderson Group PLC DRC (ASX:JHG), which fell 5.64% or 2.40 points to trade at 40.19 at the close. CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) declined 2.94% or 0.170 points to end at 5.620 and South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) was down 2.93% or 0.080 points to 2.650.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 807 to 571 and 328 ended unchanged.
Shares in News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS) rose to all time highs; rising 13.19% or 3.31 to 28.41.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.26% to 14.721.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.43% or 7.70 to $1798.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.53% or 0.30 to hit $56.53 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.12 to trade at $59.12 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.06% to 0.7603, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 80.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 91.523.