Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Materials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.58%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 8.70% or 1.110 points to trade at 13.870 at the close. Meanwhile, Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) added 8.59% or 1.820 points to end at 23.000 and Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) was up 6.50% or 1.140 points to 18.670 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN), which fell 5.29% or 0.120 points to trade at 2.150 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) declined 4.33% or 0.045 points to end at 0.995 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) was down 4.32% or 0.330 points to 7.310.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 673 to 514 and 340 ended unchanged.
Shares in Bingo Industries Ltd (AX:BIN) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.29% or 0.120 to 2.150.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.24% to 15.332.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.35% or 4.30 to $1231.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.50% or 0.25 to hit $50.56 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.22% or 0.13 to trade at $59.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7317, while AUD/JPY fell 0.24% to 82.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 96.602.