Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.30%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.30%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR), which rose 8.57% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.52 at the close. Meanwhile, Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA) added 7.53% or 0.25 points to end at 3.57 and Brambles Ltd (ASX:BXB) was up 7.46% or 0.90 points to 12.97 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 18.73% or 0.68 points to trade at 2.95 at the close. EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) declined 9.48% or 0.06 points to end at 0.53 and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) was down 4.76% or 0.09 points to 1.70.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 680 to 593 and 387 ended unchanged.

Shares in Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) fell to 52-week lows; down 18.73% or 0.68 to 2.95.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.95% to 12.39.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.16% or 2.85 to $1,829.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.10% or 0.83 to hit $76.22 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.12% or 0.92 to trade at $83.13 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 91.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 104.58.