Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.30%

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 0.30% to hit a new 1-month high.

The best performers of the session on the were Appen Ltd (ASX:), which rose 14.40% or 0.09 points to trade at 0.71 at the close. Meanwhile, Santos Ltd (ASX:) added 6.08% or 0.41 points to end at 7.24 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.47% or 0.16 points to 3.74 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:), which fell 9.52% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.29 at the close. Polynovo Ltd (ASX:) declined 3.55% or 0.06 points to end at 1.50 and Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.19% or 0.06 points to 1.67.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 590 to 558 and 408 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:) fell to all time lows; falling 9.52% or 0.03 to 0.29.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.37% to 10.13.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.07% or 1.45 to $2,047.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.43% or 0.99 to hit $70.33 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.54% or 1.14 to trade at $75.19 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.21% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.02% to 95.14.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 103.61.