Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Staples, Materials and Resources sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.88%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orica Ltd (ASX:ORI), which rose 14.53% or 1.750 points to trade at 13.790 at the close. Meanwhile, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) added 9.12% or 0.125 points to end at 1.495 and Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA) was up 6.51% or 0.78 points to 12.77 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which fell 2.69% or 0.045 points to trade at 1.625 at the close. AusNet Services Ltd (ASX:AST) declined 1.56% or 0.040 points to end at 2.520 and AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) was down 1.53% or 0.09 points to 5.78.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 862 to 527 and 385 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 9.95% to 12.458.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.53% or 9.15 to $1732.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.19% or 0.14 to hit $74.97 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.10% or 0.08 to trade at $78.17 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.45% to 0.7207, while AUD/JPY rose 0.42% to 80.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 94.302.