Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.27%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 11.82% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.135 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) added 7.06% or 0.230 points to end at 3.490 and Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) was up 3.94% or 0.043 points to 1.123 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Seek Ltd (AX:SEK), which fell 6.05% or 0.980 points to trade at 15.220 at the close. Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) declined 5.33% or 0.340 points to end at 6.040 and Austal Ltd (AX:ASB) was down 3.39% or 0.043 points to 1.212.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 524 to 466 and 366 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.20% to 21.622 a new 3-months high.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.19% or 2.35 to $1267.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.85% or 0.42 to hit $49.55 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.86% or 0.43 to trade at $50.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.49% to 0.7533, while AUD/JPY rose 0.78% to 78.87.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.33% at 93.50.