Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Telecoms Services and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.34%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Boral Ltd. (AX:BLD), which rose 3.82% or 0.250 points to trade at 6.790 at the close. Meanwhile, Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX:TWE) added 3.73% or 0.670 points to end at 18.640 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) was up 3.81% or 0.038 points to 1.022 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were CSR Ltd (AX:CSR), which fell 8.18% or 0.360 points to trade at 4.040 at the close. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 6.07% or 0.130 points to end at 2.010 and Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) was down 4.36% or 0.125 points to 2.745.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 710 to 501 and 385 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.26% to 11.997.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.06% or 0.70 to $1223.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.18% or 0.12 to hit $68.36 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.36% or 0.26 to trade at $72.84 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7383, while AUD/JPY rose 0.25% to 82.93.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 94.79.