Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.13%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG), which rose 9.71% or 0.185 points to trade at 2.090 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) added 7.12% or 0.110 points to end at 1.655 and Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF) was up 5.40% or 0.350 points to 6.830 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which fell 9.23% or 0.125 points to trade at 1.230 at the close. Spotless Fp (ASX:SPO) declined 6.17% or 0.150 points to end at 2.280 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was down 5.88% or 0.140 points to 2.240.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 503 to 493 and 174 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.24% to 15.466.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.04% or 0.50 to $1186.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.51% or 0.28 to hit $55.88 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.60% or 0.38 to trade at $62.35 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.30% to 0.7733, while AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 92.72.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.27% at 98.51.