Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Resources, Metals & Mining and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.59%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO), which rose 8.56% or 9.910 points to trade at 125.660 at the close. Meanwhile, Janus Henderson Group PLC DRC (ASX:JHG) added 7.95% or 3.20 points to end at 43.46 and Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) was up 7.42% or 0.480 points to 6.950 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO), which fell 5.05% or 7.47 points to trade at 140.53 at the close. Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) declined 5.02% or 0.74 points to end at 14.00 and Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) was down 4.25% or 0.085 points to 1.915.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 710 to 615 and 355 ended unchanged.
Shares in Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) rose to all time highs; rising 8.56% or 9.910 to 125.660.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.61% to 14.263.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.74% or 14.15 to $1922.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.89% or 0.45 to hit $51.08 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.39 to trade at $54.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.17% to 0.7788, while AUD/JPY rose 0.16% to 80.51.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 89.537.