Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 1.08%

Australia stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Discretionary and Resources sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.08%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH), which rose 16.40% or 0.41 points to trade at 2.91 at the close. Meanwhile, Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) added 4.66% or 0.05 points to end at 1.01 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) was up 4.19% or 0.93 points to 23.10 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 20.92% or 1.73 points to trade at 6.54 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 5.17% or 0.02 points to end at 0.28 and CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) was down 4.69% or 0.23 points to 4.67.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 770 to 605 and 427 ended unchanged.

Shares in CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) fell to 52-week lows; losing 4.69% or 0.23 to 4.67.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.49% to 15.30.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.38% or 7.05 to $1,854.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $114.09 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.17% or 0.19 to trade at $114.36 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.52% to 0.71, while AUD/JPY rose 0.51% to 90.70.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 101.64.