Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.10% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resmed Inc (AX:RMD), which rose 7.55% or 0.650 points to trade at 9.260 at the close. Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA) added 6.90% or 0.400 points to end at 6.200 and Austal Ltd (AX:ASB) was up 5.94% or 0.065 points to 1.160 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which lost 5.13% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.555 in late trade. Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) declined 4.94% or 0.415 points to end at 7.985 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) shed 4.11% or 0.190 points to 4.430.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 588 to 500 and 314 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.39% to 14.179 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.04% or 0.55 to $1340.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.29% or 0.12 to hit $41.02 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.16% or 0.07 to trade at $43.16 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.24% to 0.7521, while AUD/JPY fell 1.34% to 77.91.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 96.44.