Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the A-REITs, Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.46% to hit a new 3-months high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC), which rose 12.00% or 1.510 points to trade at 14.090 at the close. Meanwhile, Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) added 8.83% or 0.155 points to end at 1.910 and Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH) was up 8.75% or 0.230 points to 2.860 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which fell 5.28% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.690 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) declined 5.00% or 0.040 points to end at 0.760 and Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) was down 4.94% or 0.380 points to 7.310.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 659 to 508 and 345 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.97% to 11.317 a new 3-months low.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.35 to $1328.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $56.94 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7097, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 78.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 96.475.