Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 7.37% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.040 at the close. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) added 4.85% or 0.033 points to end at 0.703 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 4.45% or 0.150 points to 3.520 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (AX:HVN), which lost 3.92% or 0.160 points to trade at 3.920 in late trade. Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX:SKT) declined 2.72% or 0.070 points to end at 2.500 and Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) shed 2.50% or 0.075 points to 2.925.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 623 to 501 and 394 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 1.38% to 12.270.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.16% or 2.17 to $1324.37 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.61% or 0.29 to hit $46.94 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.16 to trade at $52.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.15% to 0.7934, while AUD/JPY fell 0.03% to 87.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 92.69.