Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 2.25%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AWE Ltd (AX:AWE), which rose 23.75% or 0.095 points to trade at 0.495 at the close. Meanwhile, Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) added 14.29% or 0.090 points to end at 0.720 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) was up 13.79% or 0.060 points to 0.495 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which fell 10.99% or 0.700 points to trade at 5.670 at the close. Covermore Fpo (AX:CVO) declined 5.11% or 0.090 points to end at 1.670 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP) was down 4.52% or 0.450 points to 9.500.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 585 to 336 and 269 ended unchanged.
Shares in Covermore Fpo (AX:CVO) fell to all time lows; falling 5.11% or 0.090 to 1.670.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 9.38% to 22.749.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.26% or 3.20 to $1208.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.52% or 0.47 to hit $31.12 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.41% or 0.14 to trade at $34.64 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.57% to 0.7143, while AUD/JPY fell 0.82% to 81.30.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.12% at 96.75.