Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.07%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.07%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Boral Ltd. (ASX:BLD), which rose 7.95% or 0.43 points to trade at 5.84 at the close. Meanwhile, Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW) added 7.33% or 0.40 points to end at 5.86 and Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) was up 5.52% or 9.74 points to 186.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 5.74% or 0.09 points to trade at 1.40 at the close. Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) declined 4.69% or 0.05 points to end at 1.07 and Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) was down 4.41% or 0.03 points to 0.65.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 618 to 603 and 370 ended unchanged.

Shares in Boral Ltd. (ASX:BLD) rose to 5-year highs; rising 7.95% or 0.43 to 5.84. Shares in Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 7.33% or 0.40 to 5.86.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.75% to 11.34.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.01% or 0.30 to $2,047.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.18% or 0.14 to hit $76.08 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.27% or 0.22 to trade at $81.41 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.03% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 97.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 104.06.