Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.53% By Investing.com

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

At the close in Sydney, the gained 0.53%.

The best performers of the session on the were Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:), which rose 5.94% or 1.24 points to trade at 22.11 at the close. Meanwhile, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:) added 5.15% or 0.36 points to end at 7.35 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.76% or 0.01 points to 0.22 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:), which fell 3.14% or 0.12 points to trade at 3.70 at the close. Alumina Ltd (ASX:) declined 1.83% or 0.03 points to end at 1.61 and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:) was down 1.82% or 3.12 points to 168.04.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 626 to 622 and 390 ended unchanged.

Shares in Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:) fell to 52-week lows; down 3.14% or 0.12 to 3.70.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.39% to 12.44.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.18% or 3.30 to $1,804.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.71% or 0.51 to hit $71.97 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.63% or 0.48 to trade at $76.63 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.09% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY fell 0.19% to 92.31.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 104.58.