Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Energy and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.93%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX:JHX), which rose 11.63% or 1.770 points to trade at 16.990 at the close. Meanwhile, Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) added 6.06% or 0.010 points to end at 0.175 and Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) was up 6.04% or 0.400 points to 7.020 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Cardno Ltd (ASX:CDD), which fell 5.60% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.360 at the close. Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN) declined 5.44% or 0.130 points to end at 2.260 and G8 Education Ltd (ASX:GEM) was down 2.26% or 0.090 points to 3.890.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 556 to 458 and 171 ended unchanged.
Shares in James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX:JHX) rose to all time highs; gaining 11.63% or 1.770 to 16.990. Shares in Cardno Ltd (ASX:CDD) fell to 5-year lows; falling 5.60% or 0.140 to 2.360.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.73% to 16.250.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.02% or 0.20 to $1208.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.29% or 0.17 to hit $59.15 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.18 to trade at $65.21 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.34% to 0.7900, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 95.64.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.06% at 95.59.