Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Staples and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.92%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG), which rose 7.19% or 0.060 points to trade at 0.895 at the close. Asaleo Care (AX:AHY) added 5.71% or 0.080 points to end at 1.480 and Henderson Group PLC (AX:HGGDA) was up 5.52% or 2.360 points to 45.100 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 4.27% or 0.125 points to trade at 2.805 in late trade. AGL Energy Ltd (AX:AGL) declined 3.82% or 1.030 points to end at 25.940 and TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) shed 2.78% or 0.160 points to 5.600.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 637 to 455 and 343 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 3.67% to 11.473 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.53% or 6.73 to $1260.27 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.74% or 0.36 to hit $48.00 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.63% or 0.32 to trade at $50.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7390, while AUD/JPY rose 0.46% to 82.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 97.17.