Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Gold, Telecoms Services and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.60%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP), which rose 11.20% or 1.110 points to trade at 11.020 at the close. Meanwhile, Macquarie Atlas Roads Group (AX:MQA) added 5.83% or 0.240 points to end at 4.360 and G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) was up 4.97% or 0.170 points to 3.590 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH), which fell 14.29% or 0.105 points to trade at 0.630 at the close. AWE Ltd (AX:AWE) declined 11.50% or 0.065 points to end at 0.500 and G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (AX:GUD) was down 5.61% or 0.400 points to 6.730.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 508 to 484 and 173 ended unchanged.
Shares in Macquarie Atlas Roads Group (AX:MQA) rose to all time highs; rising 5.83% or 0.240 to 4.360. Shares in G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (AX:GUD) fell to 52-week lows; losing 5.61% or 0.400 to 6.730.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.48% to 21.149.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.14% or 1.60 to $1117.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.50% or 0.48 to hit $31.82 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.37% or 0.47 to trade at $33.47 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7046, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 83.61.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.11% at 99.14.