Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.66% 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 0.66% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the were Nuix Ltd (ASX:), which rose 6.47% or 0.05 points to trade at 0.74 at the close. Meanwhile, Blackmores Ltd (ASX:) added 6.24% or 4.77 points to end at 81.27 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:) was up 5.41% or 0.06 points to 1.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:), which fell 4.09% or 0.17 points to trade at 3.99 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:) declined 2.60% or 0.03 points to end at 0.94 and Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:) was down 2.57% or 0.27 points to 10.24.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 747 to 511 and 389 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.23% to 12.36.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.05% or 0.95 to $1,899.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.06% or 0.05 to hit $78.44 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $84.00 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 0.70, while AUD/JPY fell 0.50% to 89.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 101.96.