Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, A-REITs and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.55%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR), which rose 6.71% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.44 at the close. Meanwhile, Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 6.02% or 0.07 points to end at 1.15 and Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) was up 4.55% or 0.05 points to 1.15 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which fell 6.73% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.24 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) declined 5.57% or 0.22 points to end at 3.73 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was down 3.45% or 0.02 points to 0.42.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 617 to 514 and 454 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.68% to 11.73.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.02% or 0.55 to $2,310.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.22% or 0.17 to hit $79.12 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.17 to trade at $83.84 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.25% to 100.62.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 105.15.