Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the A-REITs, IT and Gold sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.47% to hit a new all time high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which rose 6.67% or 0.13 points to trade at 2.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) added 6.30% or 1.60 points to end at 27.01 and Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) was up 5.61% or 0.11 points to 1.98 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which fell 6.78% or 0.06 points to trade at 0.82 at the close. Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) declined 6.56% or 0.02 points to end at 0.28 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) was down 5.80% or 0.13 points to 2.11.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 737 to 495 and 357 ended unchanged.
Shares in Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) rose to 5-year highs; up 6.30% or 1.60 to 27.01.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 9.13% to 12.00 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.11% or 2.20 to $2,073.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.54% or 0.40 to hit $74.22 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.61% or 0.48 to trade at $79.18 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.42% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.38% to 96.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 102.86.