Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.07%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Super Retail Group Ltd (AX:SUL), which rose 5.66% or 0.430 points to trade at 8.030 at the close. Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) added 4.67% or 0.120 points to end at 2.690 and Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (AX:HVN) was up 3.61% or 0.140 points to 4.020 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX), which lost 4.48% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.640 in late trade. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) declined 3.43% or 0.130 points to end at 3.660 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX:ALG) shed 3.40% or 0.040 points to 1.135.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 610 to 508 and 392 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 0.46% to 11.865.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.07% or 0.95 to $1294.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.67% or 0.40 to hit $59.70 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.60% or 0.40 to trade at $67.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.28% to 0.7095, while AUD/JPY rose 0.42% to 78.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 96.738.