SYDNEY: Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Energy, Resources and Materials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.42%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were STW Communications Group Ltd (ASX:SGN), which rose 8.62% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.630 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) added 6.44% or 0.150 points to end at 2.480 and Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG) was up 6.42% or 0.240 points to 3.980 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Spark New Zealand Ltd (ASX:SPK), which fell 4.14% or 0.110 points to trade at 2.550 at the close. Trade Me Group Ltd (ASX:TME) declined 2.98% or 0.100 points to end at 3.260 and Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE) was down 2.56% or 0.040 points to 1.525.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 629 to 386 and 186 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.17% to 17.042.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.19% or 2.20 to $1184.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.44% or 0.27 to hit $61.16 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.14 to trade at $65.56 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7760, while AUD/JPY rose 0.45% to 95.62.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.28% at 94.85.
