Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.52%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.52%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB ), which rose 8.06% or 0.25 points to trade at 3.35 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX ) added 6.82% or 0.18 points to end at 2.82 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM ) was up 4.44% or 0.01 points to 0.24 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN ), which fell 1.61% or 0.10 points to trade at 6.11 at the close. Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE ) declined 2.20% or 0.69 points to end at 30.62 and Bapcor Ltd (ASX:BAP ) was down 1.91% or 0.09 points to 4.63.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 574 to 472 and 434 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB ) rose to 3-years highs; up 8.06% or 0.25 to 3.35.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.83% to 11.11.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.25% or 6.61 to $2,647.61 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.29% or 0.21 to hit $71.93 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.17 to trade at $74.81 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.40% to 0.62, while AUD/JPY rose 0.59% to 97.67.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 108.19.

Source: Investing.com