Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.88%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Metals&Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.88% to hit a new 3-months high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 15.89% or 0.09 points to trade at 0.62 at the close. Meanwhile, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) added 9.84% or 0.16 points to end at 1.73 and Adbri Ltd (ASX:ABC) was up 9.57% or 0.20 points to 2.29 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW), which fell 4.84% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.44 at the close. Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) declined 4.79% or 0.48 points to end at 9.55 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was down 3.39% or 0.58 points to 16.52.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 672 to 549 and 414 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.95% to 9.87.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.31% or 6.30 to $2,051.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.38% or 0.27 to hit $71.85 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.43% or 0.33 to trade at $76.94 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.26% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 0.08% to 95.14.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 101.51.