Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the A-REITs, IT and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.38% to hit a new 3-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 8.34% or 0.680 points to trade at 8.830 at the close. Meanwhile, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) added 6.13% or 1.130 points to end at 19.570 and ARB Corporation Ltd (AX:ARB) was up 5.44% or 0.920 points to 17.840 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG), which fell 8.26% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.110 at the close. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 5.40% or 0.095 points to end at 1.665 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) was down 5.37% or 0.040 points to 0.705.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 589 to 543 and 367 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.76% to 11.347.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.25% or 3.25 to $1312.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.58% or 0.33 to hit $57.55 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.69% or 0.46 to trade at $66.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.07% to 0.7089, while AUD/JPY rose 0.25% to 79.20.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 96.172.