Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary and IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.67% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Drillsearch Energy Ltd (AX:DLS), which rose 25.95% or 0.170 points to trade at 0.825 at the close. Meanwhile, BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) added 7.68% or 0.760 points to end at 10.660 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was up 6.83% or 0.170 points to 2.660 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR), which fell 3.57% or 0.260 points to trade at 7.020 at the close. Ansell Ltd (AX:ANN) declined 0.61% or 0.120 points to end at 19.700 and M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX) was down 0.49% or 0.005 points to 1.030.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 683 to 340 and 120 ended unchanged.
Shares in BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) rose to all time highs; rising 7.68% or 0.760 to 10.660.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.05% to 16.844.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.59% or 6.90 to $1173.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.68% or 0.31 to hit $45.69 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.06% or 0.51 to trade at $48.59 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.93% to 0.7275, while AUD/JPY rose 0.97% to 87.83.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.06% at 96.38.