Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, IT and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX:IAG), which rose 7.81% or 0.52 points to trade at 7.18 at the close. Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 7.25% or 0.08 points to end at 1.11 and Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR) was up 4.17% or 0.02 points to 0.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS), which lost 5.21% or 0.17 points to trade at 3.09 in late trade. Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) declined 4.02% or 0.47 points to end at 11.22 and IGO Ltd (ASX:IGO) shed 3.41% or 0.20 points to 5.67.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 641 to 552 and 548 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 0.07% to 11.56.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.05% or 1.25 to $2,337.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.62% or 0.51 to hit $82.25 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.44 to trade at $85.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.18% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 106.73.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 105.68.