Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.17%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Energy and A-REITs sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.17%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which rose 3.84% or 0.27 points to trade at 7.31 at the close. Meanwhile, Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) added 3.10% or 0.04 points to end at 1.33 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 2.74% or 0.01 points to 0.38 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK), which fell 5.91% or 0.18 points to trade at 2.79 at the close. Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) declined 5.20% or 0.82 points to end at 14.95 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was down 3.92% or 0.03 points to 0.73.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 610 to 543 and 387 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.21% to 10.25 a new 52-week low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.07% or 1.45 to $1,994.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.07% or 0.05 to hit $76.34 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.18% or 0.15 to trade at $81.27 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 98.04.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 103.63.