Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Energy and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.29% to hit a new 52-week high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Vocus Fpo (AX:VOC), which rose 6.42% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.310 at the close. Meanwhile, St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 5.00% or 0.105 points to end at 2.205 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 4.43% or 0.045 points to 1.060 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which fell 2.97% or 0.130 points to trade at 4.240 at the close. Macquarie Atlas Roads Group (AX:MQA) declined 2.19% or 0.110 points to end at 4.910 and Qube Holdings Ltd (AX:QUB) was down 2.05% or 0.050 points to 2.390.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 563 to 438 and 326 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.16% to 12.728.
Gold for February delivery was up 1.00% or 11.70 to $1177.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $53.23 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.14% or 0.08 to trade at $56.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.49% to 0.7318, while AUD/JPY fell 0.46% to 85.00.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.59% at 101.89.