Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.54% 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 0.54% to hit a new all time high.

The best performers of the session on the were Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:), which rose 5.20% or 0.300 points to trade at 6.070 at the close. Meanwhile, Premier Investments Ltd (ASX:) added 4.94% or 1.34 points to end at 28.49 and Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.78% or 0.16 points to 3.51 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:), which fell 3.21% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.905 at the close. Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX:) declined 3.21% or 0.410 points to end at 12.370 and EML Payments Ltd (ASX:) was down 2.60% or 0.10 points to 3.74.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 789 to 624 and 374 ended unchanged.

Shares in Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; rising 5.20% or 0.300 to 6.070.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.97% to 10.841 a new 3-months low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.41% or 7.25 to $1759.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.56% or 0.39 to hit $68.70 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.41% or 0.29 to trade at $71.02 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7340, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 80.95.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 92.975.