After the close of trading on Thursday, Australia’s stocks showed gains, with increases in the Metals & Mining, IT, and Materials sectors leading the market higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.48%.
Among the best performers on the S&P/ASX 200 were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which rose by 5.50% or 0.12 points to trade at 2.30 at the close. Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF) added 5.09% or 0.33 points to end at 6.81, while Orora Ltd (ASX:ORA) was up 4.83% or 0.10 points, closing at 2.17.
On the other hand, the worst performers included Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which fell by 4.33% or 0.18 points to trade at 3.98 at the close. Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) declined by 4.33% or 1.25 points to end at 27.63, and Bapcor Ltd (ASX:BAP) was down by 3.58% or 0.21 points, closing at 5.65.
On the Sydney Stock Exchange, rising stocks outnumbered declining ones by 550 to 532, while 498 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, rose by 12.57% to 12.16.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery rose by 0.21% or 5.10 to $2,393.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere, Crude oil for delivery in May rose by 0.15% or 0.12 to hit $82.81 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose by 0.22% or 0.19 to trade at $87.48 a barrel.
The AUD/USD pair remained unchanged at 0.65, while the AUD/JPY pair rose by 0.14% to 99.49.
The US Dollar Index Futures fell by 0.16% to 105.59.