Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.70%

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 0.70%.

The best performers of the session on the were Cimic Group Ltd (ASX:), which rose 51.15% or 6.65 points to trade at 19.65 at the close. Meanwhile, Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:) added 27.91% or 0.96 points to end at 4.40 and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:) was up 25.66% or 2.54 points to 12.44 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:), which fell 12.55% or 3.11 points to trade at 21.67 at the close. Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:) declined 10.91% or 0.030 points to end at 0.245 and Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:) was down 10.60% or 2.630 points to 22.190.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 745 to 487 and 261 ended unchanged.

Shares in Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:) fell to 52-week lows; losing 12.55% or 3.11 to 21.67. Shares in Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX:) fell to all time lows; down 10.91% or 0.030 to 0.245.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 16.28% to 44.290.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.51% or 22.30 to $1501.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 4.71% or 1.22 to hit $27.13 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.30% or 0.94 to trade at $29.41 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 3.51% to 0.5942, while AUD/JPY rose 2.62% to 65.22.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.05% at 102.515.

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