Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, A-REITs and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.47%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY), which rose 24.00% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.155 at the close. Meanwhile, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 7.69% or 0.180 points to end at 2.520 and Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN) was up 5.41% or 0.010 points to 0.195 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which fell 6.14% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.070 at the close. Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) declined 4.08% or 0.270 points to end at 6.340 and Syrah Res F (ASX:SYR) was down 3.57% or 0.090 points to 2.430.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 531 to 374 and 164 ended unchanged.
Shares in Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) rose to all time highs; rising 7.69% or 0.180 to 2.520. Shares in Syrah Res F (ASX:SYR) fell to 52-week lows; losing 3.57% or 0.090 to 2.430.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.37% to 25.703.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.39% or 4.40 to $1135.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.71% or 0.32 to hit $44.80 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.67% or 0.32 to trade at $48.07 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.27% to 0.6983, while AUD/JPY fell 0.45% to 83.83.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.20% at 96.20.