Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.73%

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

At the close in Sydney, the added 0.73% to hit a new 3-months high.

The best performers of the session on the were Megaport Ltd (ASX:), which rose 14.44% or 1.34 points to trade at 10.62 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:) added 13.85% or 0.18 points to end at 1.48 and Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:) was up 6.93% or 0.19 points to 2.93 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:), which fell 10.77% or 0.22 points to trade at 1.87 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:) declined 5.85% or 0.44 points to end at 7.08 and Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:) was down 5.75% or 0.03 points to 0.41.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 764 to 473 and 421 ended unchanged.

Shares in Megaport Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; up 14.44% or 1.34 to 10.62.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.13% to 10.90.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.55% or 10.75 to $1,980.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.19% or 0.94 to hit $79.72 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.97% or 0.80 to trade at $83.36 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.87% to 0.68, while AUD/JPY rose 0.59% to 95.34.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 100.43.