Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Information Technology, Australian Real Estate Investment Trust and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.41% to hit a new 3-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX:BDR), which rose 5.88% or 0.015 points to trade at 0.270 at the close. Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd (ASX:AGI) added 5.45% or 0.150 points to end at 2.900 and APN News & Media Ltd (ASX:APN) was up 5.04% or 0.048 points to 0.990 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR), which lost 18.18% or 0.480 points to trade at 2.160 in late trade. Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX:SEA) declined 7.14% or 0.035 points to end at 0.455 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) shed 5.33% or 0.080 points to 1.420.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 306 to 278 and 36 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 6.34% to 12.403 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.06% or 0.70 to $1168.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in May fell 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $45.51 a barrel, while the May Brent Oil contract rose 0.31% or 0.17 to trade at $54.54 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.44% to 0.7684, while AUD/JPY rose 0.38% to 92.75.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.26% at 99.19.