Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Utilities and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.52%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd (ASX:AGI), which rose 8.30% or 0.230 points to trade at 3.000 at the close. Meanwhile, Resmed Inc (ASX:RMD) added 6.38% or 0.480 points to end at 8.000 and Henderson Group PLC (ASX:HGG) was up 5.69% or 0.320 points to 5.940 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN), which fell 8.89% or 0.020 points to trade at 0.205 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) declined 4.31% or 0.045 points to end at 1.000 and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) was down 4.08% or 0.010 points to 0.235.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 545 to 470 and 173 ended unchanged.
Shares in Henderson Group PLC (ASX:HGG) rose to all time highs; up 5.69% or 0.320 to 5.940. Shares in Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) fell to 3-years lows; falling 4.08% or 0.010 to 0.235.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.71% to 14.549.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.73% or 7.90 to $1080.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 1.00% or 0.48 to hit $48.03 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.94% or 0.50 to trade at $52.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.18% to 0.7280, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 90.43.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 97.50.