Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.57%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals&Mining, Materials and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.57% to hit a new 6-months high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL), which rose 14.63% or 0.12 points to trade at 0.94 at the close. Meanwhile, Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) added 8.02% or 0.38 points to end at 5.12 and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) was up 4.74% or 0.13 points to 2.87 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL), which fell 9.19% or 1.28 points to trade at 12.65 at the close. Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) declined 6.76% or 0.12 points to end at 1.59 and Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) was down 6.70% or 0.08 points to 1.04.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 674 to 566 and 435 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.97% to 12.18.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.20% or 3.80 to $1,910.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.98% or 0.78 to hit $79.02 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.76% or 0.65 to trade at $84.33 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.79% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 1.34% to 88.26.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 102.07.