Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.31%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Utilities and Financials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.31%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL), which rose 10.21% or 0.82 points to trade at 8.79 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) added 6.33% or 0.10 points to end at 1.72 and News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS) was up 6.30% or 2.48 points to 41.85 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM), which fell 7.86% or 0.09 points to trade at 1.05 at the close. Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) declined 5.17% or 0.02 points to end at 0.28 and Rea Group Ltd (ASX:REA) was down 3.93% or 7.23 points to 176.90.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 593 to 524 and 364 ended unchanged.

Shares in Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM) fell to all time lows; falling 7.86% or 0.09 to 1.05. Shares in News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS) rose to all time highs; rising 6.30% or 2.48 to 41.85.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.82% to 11.43.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.19% or 3.95 to $2,047.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.26% or 0.19 to hit $74.05 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.29% or 0.23 to trade at $79.44 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 96.88.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 103.89.