Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.78%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.78%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which rose 30.95% or 0.13 points to trade at 0.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) added 7.69% or 0.03 points to end at 0.42 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was up 5.59% or 0.09 points to 1.70 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 7.24% or 0.22 points to trade at 2.82 at the close. Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN) declined 3.76% or 0.14 points to end at 3.58 and AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) was down 2.78% or 0.03 points to 1.05.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 818 to 431 and 378 ended unchanged.

Shares in Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 7.69% or 0.03 to 0.42.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.26% to 13.05.

Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.15% or 3.05 to $1,994.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.54% or 0.40 to hit $73.97 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.69% or 0.54 to trade at $78.06 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.45% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 88.90.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 102.06.