Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Information Technology, Telecommunication Services and Australian Real Estate Investment Trust sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.52%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI), which rose 15.69% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.295 at the close. Meanwhile, Aveo Group (ASX:AOG) added 6.60% or 0.140 points to end at 2.260 and Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX:BDR) was up 5.77% or 0.015 points to 0.275 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY), which fell 9.09% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.300 at the close. Mount Gibson Iron Ltd (ASX:MGX) declined 5.45% or 0.015 points to end at 0.260 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 5.15% or 0.070 points to 1.290.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 299 to 257 and 46 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.50% to 15.416.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.07% or 0.80 to $1209.90 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.52% or 0.26 to hit $48.91 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract rose 0.43% or 0.22 to trade at $51.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.46% to 0.8113, while AUD/JPY rose 0.84% to 97.11.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.17% at 92.37.