Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.20% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Premier Investments Ltd (ASX:PMV), which rose 15.34% or 2.410 points to trade at 18.120 at the close. Meanwhile, Ioof Holdings Ltd (ASX:IFL) added 7.93% or 0.440 points to end at 5.990 and CYBG PLC (ASX:CYB) was up 5.56% or 0.120 points to 2.280 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Speedcast International Ltd (ASX:SDA), which fell 5.65% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.170 at the close. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SIG) declined 4.48% or 0.030 points to end at 0.640 and Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (ASX:SOL) was down 3.07% or 0.700 points to 22.080.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 600 to 524 and 374 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.78% to 12.977.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.40% or 6.05 to $1512.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.81% or 0.47 to hit $58.66 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.40 to trade at $64.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.6808, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 73.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 97.773.