Investing.com – Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Healthcare and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.36%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Premier Investments Ltd (ASX:PMV), which rose 6.59% or 1.77 points to trade at 28.62 at the close. Meanwhile, Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) added 5.83% or 0.82 points to end at 14.88 and AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) was up 5.00% or 0.09 points to 1.78 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN), which fell 15.22% or 0.91 points to trade at 5.07 at the close. Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) declined 6.23% or 0.20 points to end at 3.01 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) was down 4.73% or 0.13 points to 2.62.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 568 to 494 and 466 ended unchanged.

Shares in Monadelphous Group Ltd (ASX:MND) rose to 52-week highs; rising 5.83% or 0.82 to 14.88. Shares in AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) rose to 3-years highs; gaining 5.00% or 0.09 to 1.78.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.99% to 10.20.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.65% or 18.09 to $2,783.09 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.05% or 0.04 to hit $74.58 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.04 to trade at $78.25 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.49% to 0.63, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 98.12.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 107.62.