Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, A-REITs and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.21%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU), which rose 10.76% or 0.790 points to trade at 8.130 at the close. Meanwhile, Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX) added 4.79% or 0.750 points to end at 16.420 and Henderson Group PLC (AX:HGG) was up 4.29% or 0.165 points to 4.015 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which fell 6.44% or 0.065 points to trade at 0.945 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 4.84% or 0.105 points to end at 2.065 and Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (AX:BOQ) was down 4.60% or 0.560 points to 11.610.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 583 to 499 and 354 ended unchanged.
Shares in Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) rose to 52-week highs; rising 10.76% or 0.790 to 8.130.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.53% to 13.710.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.23% or 2.90 to $1280.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.28% or 0.14 to hit $50.99 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.36% or 0.19 to trade at $53.12 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7509, while AUD/JPY rose 0.18% to 81.77.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 99.60.