Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.24%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.24% to hit a new 3-months high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML), which rose 22.64% or 0.12 points to trade at 0.65 at the close. Meanwhile, Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) added 11.06% or 0.46 points to end at 4.62 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was up 6.94% or 0.06 points to 0.93 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which fell 6.69% or 0.32 points to trade at 4.46 at the close. IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) declined 4.75% or 0.75 points to end at 15.05 and Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) was down 4.31% or 3.71 points to 82.33.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 677 to 604 and 395 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.31% to 12.13 a new 6-months low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.46% or 7.95 to $1,753.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.56% or 0.44 to hit $78.38 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.34% or 0.29 to trade at $85.63 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 93.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 105.73.