Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, A-REITs and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.04% to hit a new 52-week high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nsreit Stapled (AX:NSR), which rose 2.68% or 0.040 points to trade at 1.530 at the close. Meanwhile, Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) added 2.59% or 0.028 points to end at 1.087 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 2.12% or 0.080 points to 3.860 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL), which fell 3.27% or 0.120 points to trade at 3.550 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 3.07% or 0.100 points to end at 3.160 and CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) was down 2.80% or 0.130 points to 4.520.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 556 to 456 and 350 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.82% to 12.496.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.41% or 4.90 to $1176.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.07% or 0.04 to hit $53.72 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $56.85 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.26% to 0.7317, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 84.85.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 101.69.