Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.17%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN), which rose 18.18% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.195 at the close. Meanwhile, Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) added 15.38% or 0.020 points to end at 0.150 and Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) was up 11.52% or 3.720 points to 36.010 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which fell 9.49% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.145 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) declined 8.46% or 0.085 points to end at 0.920 and Boral Ltd. (ASX:BLD) was down 7.96% or 0.500 points to 5.780.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 668 to 295 and 149 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 13.32% to 23.674.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.21% or 2.40 to $1127.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 2.97% or 1.15 to hit $39.74 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 2.89% or 1.25 to trade at $44.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.05% to 0.7114, while AUD/JPY rose 0.16% to 85.51.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 95.20.