Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Consumer Discretionary and Financials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.45%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Genworth Fp (AX:GMA), which rose 8.26% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.490 at the close. Meanwhile, Mesoblast Ltd (AX:MSB) added 6.64% or 0.160 points to end at 2.570 and IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) was up 6.53% or 0.400 points to 6.530 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR), which fell 3.93% or 0.220 points to trade at 5.380 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 3.38% or 0.070 points to end at 2.000 and OZ Minerals Ltd (AX:OZL) was down 2.14% or 0.110 points to 5.030.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 594 to 335 and 301 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.07% to 16.327.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.11% or 1.40 to $1230.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.15% or 0.44 to hit $37.88 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.87% or 0.35 to trade at $39.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.26% to 0.7651, while AUD/JPY fell 0.39% to 85.90.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 94.91.