Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.43% 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 added 0.43%.

The best performers of the session on the were Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:), which rose 14.98% or 4.76 points to trade at 36.53 at the close. Meanwhile, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:) added 9.74% or 10.74 points to end at 121.00 and Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX:) was up 5.46% or 0.130 points to 2.510 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Adelaide Brighton Ltd (ASX:), which fell 4.91% or 0.160 points to trade at 3.100 at the close. Abacus Property Group (ASX:) declined 4.48% or 0.13 points to end at 2.77 and Premier Investments Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.83% or 0.97 points to 24.38.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 718 to 583 and 366 ended unchanged.

Shares in Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 14.98% or 4.76 to 36.53.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.33% to 13.617.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.03% or 19.10 to $1835.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.34% or 0.18 to hit $53.09 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.21% or 0.12 to trade at $56.18 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.32% to 0.7757, while AUD/JPY rose 0.50% to 80.70.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 90.362.