Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and Resources sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.81%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (ASX:GUD), which rose 10.87% or 0.920 points to trade at 9.380 at the close. Meanwhile, Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) added 9.76% or 0.020 points to end at 0.225 and Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) was up 8.29% or 0.180 points to 2.350 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN), which fell 4.65% or 0.010 points to trade at 0.205 at the close. Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) declined 3.85% or 0.005 points to end at 0.125 and UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) was down 3.74% or 0.080 points to 2.060.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 546 to 442 and 175 ended unchanged.
Shares in Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) fell to all time lows; down 3.85% or 0.005 to 0.125.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.59% to 15.110.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.80% or 8.70 to $1084.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.07% or 0.04 to hit $48.83 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.45% or 0.24 to trade at $53.62 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7302, while AUD/JPY rose 0.25% to 90.66.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 97.41.