CANBERRA: Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors led shares higher. At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.26%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were South32 Ltd (AX:S32), which rose 9.44% or 0.235 points to trade at 2.725 at the close. Meanwhile, Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) added 9.15% or 0.168 points to end at 1.998 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 8.71% or 0.310 points to 3.870 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Syrah Res F (AX:SYR), which fell 3.21% or 0.090 points to trade at 2.710 at the close. Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX:SKT) declined 3.09% or 0.110 points to end at 3.450 and Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) was down 2.49% or 0.030 points to 1.175.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 698 to 441 and 321 ended unchanged. Shares in Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX:SKT) fell to 5-year lows; falling 3.09% or 0.110 to 3.450. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.22% to 12.174.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.23% or 2.85 to $1247.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.52% or 0.28 to hit $53.55 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.43% or 0.24 to trade at $56.12 a barrel. AUD/USD was down 0.21% to 0.7660, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 87.33. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 101.89.
