Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 4.42%

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 gained 4.42%.

The best performers of the session on the were Cochlear Ltd (ASX:), which rose 21.08% or 37.62 points to trade at 216.11 at the close. Meanwhile, Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:) added 18.65% or 1.02 points to end at 6.49 and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:) was up 17.29% or 0.230 points to 1.560 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:), which fell 14.11% or 1.05 points to trade at 6.39 at the close. Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:) declined 12.64% or 0.46 points to end at 3.18 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:) was down 11.48% or 1.400 points to 10.800.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 911 to 443 and 234 ended unchanged.

Shares in Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:) fell to all time lows; losing 14.11% or 1.05 to 6.39. Shares in Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX:) fell to 3-years lows; falling 12.64% or 0.46 to 3.18.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 84.23% to 42.339 a new 5-year high.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.13% or 2.10 to $1588.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.79% or 0.88 to hit $32.38 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.80% or 0.93 to trade at $34.15 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 1.00% to 0.6297, while AUD/JPY rose 1.82% to 66.44.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 97.438.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.