Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.21% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the rose 0.21%.

The best performers of the session on the were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:), which rose 4.60% or 0.39 points to trade at 8.87 at the close. Meanwhile, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:) added 4.30% or 1.39 points to end at 33.73 and Worley Ltd (ASX:) was up 3.68% or 0.51 points to 14.38 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were South32 Ltd (ASX:), which fell 7.18% or 0.31 points to trade at 4.01 at the close. Nuix Ltd (ASX:) declined 6.36% or 0.05 points to end at 0.77 and Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:) was down 5.99% or 0.24 points to 3.77.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 709 to 628 and 398 ended unchanged.

Shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:) rose to all time highs; up 4.60% or 0.39 to 8.87.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.63% to 15.73.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.68% or 11.55 to $1,697.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.05% or 0.04 to hit $88.52 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.07 to trade at $94.03 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 0.41% to 97.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 109.50.