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 gained 0.58%.

The best performers of the session on the were AUB Group Ltd (ASX:), which rose 5.17% or 1.20 points to trade at 24.41 at the close. Meanwhile, Incitec Pivot Ltd (ASX:) added 4.36% or 0.120 points to end at 2.870 and South32 Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.15% or 0.140 points to 3.510 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (ASX:), which fell 5.32% or 2.09 points to trade at 37.21 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:) declined 4.90% or 0.120 points to end at 2.330 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.38% or 0.42 points to 9.18.

The Sydney Stock Exchange saw rising stocks surpass declining stocks by 783 to 616, while 402 ended the day unchanged.

South32 Ltd’s shares rose by 4.15%, or 0.140 to 3.50. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd shares (ASX) dropped to their 52-week lowest levels; they fell by 4.38%, or 0.42 to 9.18.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.06% to 10.897.

For December delivery, Gold Futures fell 0.45% to $8.15 per troy-ounce. In commodities trading, crude oil fell 0.02 percent to $72.59 per barrel in October. The November Brent oil contract increased 0.03 percent to $75.48 per barrel.

AUD/USD dropped 0.26% at 0.7315 while AUD/JPY declined 0.28% at 79.97.

US Dollar Index Futures were up 0.1% at 92.638.