Australia Stock Market Update

Australia stocks finished higher after the close on Friday, led by gains in the Utilities, Gold, and Financials sectors.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.74%.

Best Performers

• St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM): +10.00% or +0.03 points, trading at 0.33.
• Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:IFL): +4.78% or +0.15 points, ending at 3.29.
• Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX:NEC): +4.82% or +0.06 points, at 1.20.

Worst Performers

• Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS): -16.04% or -0.26 points, trading at 1.34.
• Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB): -11.80% or -0.21 points, ending at 1.57.
• Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC): -5.12% or -0.44 points, at 8.15.

Overall, rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 567 to 520, with 460 stocks ending unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.81% to 10.62.

Commodity Prices

• Gold Futures (December delivery): -0.14% or -3.55 to $2,569.35 per troy ounce.
• Crude Oil (December delivery): -0.95% or -0.65 to $68.05 per barrel.
• Brent Oil (January contract): -0.95% or -0.69 to $71.87 per barrel.

Currency Updates

• AUD/USD: Unchanged at 0.65.
• AUD/JPY: +0.20% to 101.08.
• US Dollar Index Futures: +0.12% at 106.72.