Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.28%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX:PRG), which rose 17.65% or 0.285 points to trade at 1.900 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) added 9.67% or 0.073 points to end at 0.823 and Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) was up 7.04% or 0.420 points to 6.390 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Spotless Fp (AX:SPO), which fell 9.48% or 0.110 points to trade at 1.050 at the close. Suncorp Group Ltd (AX:SUN) declined 4.32% or 0.570 points to end at 12.620 and Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) was down 3.66% or 0.085 points to 2.235.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 554 to 432 and 316 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.01% to 16.857 a new 1-month low.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.47% or 5.70 to $1229.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.67% or 0.33 to hit $49.89 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.74% or 0.37 to trade at $50.11 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.24% to 0.7215, while AUD/JPY fell 0.26% to 79.10.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 95.15.