Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, IT and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.06%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 14.10% or 1.600 points to trade at 12.950 at the close. Meanwhile, Steadfast Group Ltd (AX:SDF) added 7.66% or 0.210 points to end at 2.950 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP) was up 6.05% or 1.140 points to 19.990 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which fell 7.52% or 0.690 points to trade at 8.490 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) declined 7.07% or 0.270 points to end at 3.550 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) was down 5.58% or 0.130 points to 2.200.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 597 to 561 and 350 ended unchanged.
Shares in Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.58% or 0.130 to 2.200.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.69% to 16.241.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.12% or 1.50 to $1225.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.07% or 0.05 to hit $69.70 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.04 to trade at $80.01 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7124, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 80.13.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 95.44.