Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.29%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which rose 8.83% or 0.310 points to trade at 3.820 at the close. Meanwhile, Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC) added 8.70% or 0.240 points to end at 3.000 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 6.81% or 0.110 points to 1.725 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG), which fell 7.03% or 0.045 points to trade at 0.595 at the close. Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX) declined 5.98% or 1.810 points to end at 28.480 and Orora Fpo (AX:ORA) was down 4.26% or 0.110 points to 2.470.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 512 to 431 and 283 ended unchanged.
Shares in Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC) rose to all time highs; up 8.70% or 0.240 to 3.000.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.60% to 14.619 a new 6-months low.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.02% or 0.20 to $1264.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.05% or 0.02 to hit $40.22 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.02 to trade at $41.52 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.7641, while AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 84.95.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 94.88.