PERTH: Australia stocks closed higher, as increases in the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.51% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Worleyparsons Ltd (ASX:WOR), which rose 8.79% or 0.80 points to trade at 9.90 at the close. Meanwhile, Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) added 7.42% or 0.490 points to end at 7.090 and Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX:LYC) was up 7.02% or 0.004 points to 0.061 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI), which fell 7.78% or 0.018 points to trade at 0.207 at the close. Steadfast F (ASX:SDF) declined 7.35% or 0.12 points to end at 1.45 and Skilled Group Ltd (ASX:SKE) was down 6.29% or 0.090 points to 1.340.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 352 to 226 and 31 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 8.88% to 14.082.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.43% or 5.60 to $1295.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in March rose 2.03% or 0.94 to hit $47.25 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract rose 1.54% or 0.76 to trade at $49.64 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.41% to 0.7990, while AUD/JPY fell 0.54% to 94.57.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 94.61.
