Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.43%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.43%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 10.39% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.42 at the close. Meanwhile, Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA) added 7.23% or 0.29 points to end at 4.30 and Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) was up 6.54% or 0.04 points to 0.69 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB), which fell 12.56% or 0.28 points to trade at 1.95 at the close. Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) declined 4.82% or 0.37 points to end at 7.20 and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) was down 3.96% or 0.08 points to 1.82.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 645 to 483 and 348 ended unchanged.

Shares in Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX:BGA) rose to 52-week highs; up 7.23% or 0.29 to 4.30.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.21% to 10.99.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.18% or 3.75 to $2,034.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.56% or 0.44 to hit $78.17 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.49% or 0.41 to trade at $83.26 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.24% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 98.92.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 103.85.