Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.45%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.45% to hit a new all time high.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME), which rose 9.05% or 20.66 points to trade at 249.07 at the close. Meanwhile, Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 6.40% or 0.07 points to end at 1.08 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) was up 4.43% or 0.02 points to 0.41 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN), which fell 2.24% or 0.11 points to trade at 4.79 at the close. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) declined 2.08% or 0.72 points to end at 33.85 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was down 1.56% or 0.05 points to 3.16.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 586 to 473 and 422 ended unchanged.

Shares in Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) rose to all time highs; up 9.05% or 20.66 to 249.07.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.49% to 10.54.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.28% or 7.41 to $2,657.39 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.23% or 0.16 to hit $68.56 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.16 to trade at $72.14 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 98.33.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 106.16.