Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.31% 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 gained 0.31%.

The best performers of the session on the were Blackmores Ltd (ASX:), which rose 5.40% or 3.53 points to trade at 68.84 at the close. Meanwhile, Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:) added 5.04% or 0.03 points to end at 0.63 and Goodman Group (ASX:) was up 4.87% or 0.84 points to 18.09 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:), which fell 13.51% or 0.13 points to trade at 0.80 at the close. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:) declined 10.95% or 0.30 points to end at 2.44 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:) was down 8.72% or 0.10 points to 1.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 936 to 539 and 355 ended unchanged.

Shares in St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) fell to 5-year lows; down 13.51% or 0.13 to 0.80. Shares in Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:) fell to 52-week lows; down 8.72% or 0.10 to 1.00.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.03% to 19.39.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.06% or 1.10 to $1,839.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.83% or 1.94 to hit $104.25 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.61% or 1.80 to trade at $109.94 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.71% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 1.39% to 93.06.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.36% at 104.36.