Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.37%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.37%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which rose 17.38% or 0.26 points to trade at 1.79 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) added 10.17% or 0.60 points to end at 6.50 and Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF) was up 6.01% or 0.22 points to 3.88 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which fell 6.40% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.40 at the close. Domino’S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) declined 5.65% or 1.71 points to end at 28.54 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was down 4.93% or 0.10 points to 1.93.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 581 to 462 and 416 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) rose to 52-week highs; up 17.38% or 0.26 to 1.79. Shares in Domino’S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) fell to 5-year lows; falling 5.65% or 1.71 to 28.54.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.86% to 10.70.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.85% or 22.10 to $2,564.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.58% or 0.40 to hit $68.03 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.51% or 0.37 to trade at $71.91 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.35% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY fell 0.02% to 100.81.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.26% at 106.65.