Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Industrials and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.01%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Covermore Fpo (AX:CVO), which rose 17.55% or 0.215 points to trade at 1.440 at the close. Meanwhile, Mcmillan Shakespeare Ltd (AX:MMS) added 8.01% or 1.010 points to end at 13.620 and Super Retail Group Ltd (AX:SUL) was up 6.93% or 0.580 points to 8.950 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (AX:SGR), which fell 5.25% or 0.310 points to trade at 5.600 at the close. Henderson Group PLC (AX:HGG) declined 4.48% or 0.220 points to end at 4.690 and Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) was down 4.15% or 0.085 points to 1.965.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 517 to 512 and 321 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.01% to 18.390.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.69% or 8.75 to $1283.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 2.08% or 0.91 to hit $44.69 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.68% or 0.75 to trade at $45.37 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.58% to 0.7499, while AUD/JPY rose 0.56% to 80.25.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 93.20.