Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Utilities and Metals & Mining sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.25%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were M2 Telecommunications Group Ltd (ASX:MTU), which rose 8.17% or 0.680 points to trade at 9.000 at the close. Meanwhile, Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) added 7.74% or 0.240 points to end at 3.340 and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) was up 7.41% or 0.010 points to 0.145 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Cardno Ltd (ASX:CDD), which fell 6.12% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.300 at the close. AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) declined 5.81% or 0.045 points to end at 0.730 and UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) was down 5.68% or 0.110 points to 1.825.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 492 to 467 and 145 ended unchanged.
Shares in Cardno Ltd (ASX:CDD) fell to 5-year lows; falling 6.12% or 0.150 to 2.300. Shares in AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) fell to 5-year lows; down 5.81% or 0.045 to 0.730.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.86% to 28.939.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.30 to $1124.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.26% or 0.59 to hit $46.16 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.37% or 0.69 to trade at $49.98 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.49% to 0.6984, while AUD/JPY fell 0.93% to 83.48.
The US Dollar Index was unchanged 0.00% at 96.32.