Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrials, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 2.45%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which rose 9.63% or 0.390 points to trade at 4.440 at the close. Meanwhile, Ardent Leisure Group (ASX:AAD) added 9.59% or 0.260 points to end at 2.970 and Covermore Fpo (ASX:CVO) was up 9.34% or 0.17 points to 1.99 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY), which fell 7.25% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.320 at the close. Medusa Mining Ltd (ASX:MML) declined 5.30% or 0.035 points to end at 0.625 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was down 4.44% or 0.010 points to 0.215.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 402 to 160 and 36 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 19.03% to 13.362.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.33% or 4.00 to $1198.80 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.36% or 0.74 to hit $55.10 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract fell 0.08% or 0.05 to trade at $59.64 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.8188, while AUD/JPY rose 0.72% to 97.72.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.07% at 89.51.