Australia stocks higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.46%

Australia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Consumer Staples and IT sectors led shares higher.At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46%.The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG), which rose 6.65% or 0.230 points to trade at 3.690 at the close. Meanwhile, OZ Minerals Ltd (AX:OZL) added 6.57% or 0.230 points to end at 3.730 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) was up 5.48% or 1.180 points to 22.710 in late trade.The worst performers of the session were AWE Ltd (AX:AWE), which fell 7.46% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.310 at the close. Challenger Ltd (AX:CGF) declined 5.16% or 0.380 points to end at 6.990 and Slater&Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) was down 4.42% or 0.025 points to 0.540.Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 501 to 497 and 137 ended unchanged.Shares in AWE Ltd (AX:AWE) fell to 5-year lows; falling 7.46% or 0.025 to 0.310. Shares in JB Hi-Fi Ltd (AX:JBH) rose to 52-week highs; up 5.48% or 1.180 to 22.710. Shares in Slater&Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) fell to all time lows; falling 4.42% or 0.025 to 0.540.The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.57% to 24.062.Gold for February delivery was down 0.32% or 3.50 to $1102.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.72% or 0.20 to hit $28.14 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.29% or 0.08 to trade at $27.75 a barrel.AUD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.6899, while AUD/JPY fell 0.31% to 80.53.The US Dollar Index was down 0.07% at 99.09.