Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.52%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF), which rose 14.15% or 0.75 points to trade at 6.05 at the close. Meanwhile, Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) added 8.92% or 8.39 points to end at 102.49 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 6.49% or 0.15 points to 2.46 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which fell 4.26% or 0.06 points to trade at 1.35 at the close. Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX:ALL) declined 3.06% or 1.20 points to end at 38.04 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was down 2.99% or 0.56 points to 18.16.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 681 to 614 and 403 ended unchanged.

Shares in Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 8.92% or 8.39 to 102.49.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 5.98% to 11.73.

Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.21% or 4.15 to $1,980.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.48% or 0.35 to hit $72.48 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.44% or 0.34 to trade at $76.62 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.24% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.27% to 91.44.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 102.86.