Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.50%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.50%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU), which rose 5.00% or 0.33 points to trade at 6.93 at the close. Meanwhile, South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) added 4.59% or 0.16 points to end at 3.54 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) was up 3.77% or 2.06 points to 56.74 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:IFL), which fell 4.22% or 0.11 points to trade at 2.38 at the close. Worley Ltd (ASX:WOR) declined 2.54% or 0.42 points to end at 16.11 and Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) was down 2.39% or 0.03 points to 1.12.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 583 to 581 and 453 ended unchanged.

Shares in JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) rose to all time highs; rising 3.77% or 2.06 to 56.74.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.38% to 10.99.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.40% or 8.15 to $2,035.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.63% or 0.45 to hit $71.82 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.65% or 0.50 to trade at $77.30 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.34% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 97.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 101.98.