Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Gold sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.03%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (ASX:WSA), which rose 6.67% or 0.190 points to trade at 3.040 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) added 6.57% or 0.110 points to end at 1.785 and AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) was up 5.60% or 0.070 points to 1.320 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which fell 4.10% or 0.160 points to trade at 3.740 at the close. Slater & Gordon Ltd (ASX:SGH) declined 3.99% or 0.140 points to end at 3.370 and Pacific Brands Ltd (ASX:PBG) was down 3.33% or 0.015 points to 0.435.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 572 to 359 and 164 ended unchanged.
Shares in Slater & Gordon Ltd (ASX:SGH) fell to 52-week lows; losing 3.99% or 0.140 to 3.370.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.38% to 19.758.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.12% or 1.40 to $1162.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.67% or 0.86 to hit $52.52 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.26% or 0.72 to trade at $57.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.67% to 0.7476, while AUD/JPY rose 1.23% to 90.75.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.06% at 96.33.