Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.74%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Gold and Financials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.74%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which rose 10.00% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.33 at the close. Meanwhile, Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:IFL) added 4.78% or 0.15 points to end at 3.29 and Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX:NEC) was up 4.82% or 0.06 points to 1.20 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which fell 16.04% or 0.26 points to trade at 1.34 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) declined 11.80% or 0.21 points to end at 1.57 and Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) was down 5.12% or 0.44 points to 8.15.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 567 to 520 and 460 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.81% to 10.62.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.14% or 3.55 to $2,569.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.95% or 0.65 to hit $68.05 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.95% or 0.69 to trade at $71.87 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.19% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 101.08.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 106.72.