Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.23% 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 added 0.23% to hit a new 6-months high.

The best performers of the session on the were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:), which rose 13.18% or 0.53 points to trade at 4.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:) added 11.76% or 0.03 points to end at 0.29 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:) was up 6.16% or 0.55 points to 9.48 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:), which fell 7.69% or 0.13 points to trade at 1.56 at the close. Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:) declined 6.64% or 0.34 points to end at 4.78 and Codan Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.70% or 0.17 points to 4.42.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 640 to 580 and 422 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.11% to 12.05.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.41% or 7.90 to $1,931.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.53% or 0.43 to hit $81.04 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.46% or 0.40 to trade at $86.56 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.33% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY rose 0.75% to 89.39.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 101.87.