Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.05%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the added 0.05% to hit a new 1-month low.

The best performers of the session on the were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:), which rose 6.78% or 0.27 points to trade at 4.25 at the close. Meanwhile, Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:) added 6.55% or 0.19 points to end at 3.09 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:) was up 5.00% or 0.04 points to 0.73 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Idp Education Ltd (ASX:), which fell 5.90% or 1.38 points to trade at 22.01 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) declined 5.00% or 0.01 points to end at 0.19 and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.13% or 0.05 points to 1.55.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 653 to 530 and 427 ended unchanged.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.88% to 11.99.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.40% or 7.85 to $1,947.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.61% or 0.55 to hit $90.18 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.45% or 0.42 to trade at $93.72 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.23% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY rose 0.74% to 95.39.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 105.26.