Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.07%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.07% to hit a new all time high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK), which rose 32.74% or 1.01 points to trade at 4.08 at the close. Meanwhile, Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) added 5.17% or 0.06 points to end at 1.22 and Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) was up 4.37% or 0.10 points to 2.39 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which fell 7.35% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.32 at the close. Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) declined 2.42% or 0.05 points to end at 2.02 and Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) was down 2.42% or 0.04 points to 1.62.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 648 to 513 and 347 ended unchanged.

Shares in Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK) rose to 52-week highs; rising 32.74% or 1.01 to 4.08. Shares in Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 4.37% or 0.10 to 2.39.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.93% to 11.35.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.06% or 1.35 to $2,163.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.72% or 0.57 to hit $79.50 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.18% or 0.15 to trade at $83.42 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.20% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 98.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 102.75.