Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 4.42%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH), which rose 21.08% or 37.62 points to trade at 216.11 at the close. Meanwhile, Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) added 18.65% or 1.02 points to end at 6.49 and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) was up 17.29% or 0.230 points to 1.560 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW), which fell 14.11% or 1.05 points to trade at 6.39 at the close. Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) declined 12.64% or 0.46 points to end at 3.18 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was down 11.48% or 1.400 points to 10.800.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 911 to 443 and 234 ended unchanged.
Shares in Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW) fell to all time lows; losing 14.11% or 1.05 to 6.39. Shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:QAN) fell to 3-years lows; falling 12.64% or 0.46 to 3.18.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 84.23% to 42.339 a new 5-year high.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.13% or 2.10 to $1588.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.79% or 0.88 to hit $32.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.80% or 0.93 to trade at $34.15 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 1.00% to 0.6297, while AUD/JPY rose 1.82% to 66.44.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.438.