Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Duet Group (AX:DUE), which rose 9.64% or 0.265 points to trade at 3.015 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) added 6.70% or 0.140 points to end at 2.230 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 5.96% or 0.240 points to 4.270 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (AX:CCL), which lost 10.71% or 1.150 points to trade at 9.590 in late trade. Vocus Fpo (AX:VOC) declined 3.23% or 0.110 points to end at 3.300 and Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) shed 2.63% or 0.028 points to 1.018.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 620 to 442 and 354 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 up 1.94% to 13.934 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.18% or 2.30 to $1281.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.16% or 0.08 to hit $50.79 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.06 to trade at $53.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7536, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 82.40.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 99.72.