Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.09%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the A-REITs, Telecoms Services and Industrials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.09%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which rose 8.84% or 0.11 points to trade at 1.36 at the close. Meanwhile, Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU) added 3.19% or 0.09 points to end at 2.91 and Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) was up 3.05% or 0.39 points to 13.18 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 7.87% or 0.17 points to trade at 1.99 at the close. EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) declined 4.76% or 0.03 points to end at 0.60 and ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) was down 4.74% or 2.21 points to 44.40.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 592 to 513 and 432 ended unchanged.

Shares in Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 8.84% or 0.11 to 1.36. Shares in EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) fell to 52-week lows; down 4.76% or 0.03 to 0.60.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.93% to 11.87.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.23% or 6.15 to $2,675.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.50% or 1.05 to hit $71.15 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.33% or 0.98 to trade at $74.88 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.28% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 0.19% to 100.66.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 101.64.