Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Real Estate Investment and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.04% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nsreit Stapled (AX:NSR), which rose 2.68% or 0.040 points to trade at 1.530 at the close. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) added 2.59% or 0.028 points to end at 1.087 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 2.12% or 0.080 points to 3.860 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL), which lost 3.27% or 0.120 points to trade at 3.550 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 3.07% or 0.100 points to end at 3.160 and CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) shed 2.80% or 0.130 points to 4.520.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 556 to 456 and 350 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 1.82% to 12.496.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.39% or 4.65 to $1176.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.07% or 0.04 to hit $53.72 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $56.85 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.25% to 0.7318, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 84.85.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 101.69.