Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.45%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH), which rose 6.25% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.720 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) added 6.09% or 0.060 points to end at 1.045 and Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) was up 4.40% or 0.120 points to 2.850 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 29.25% or 1.360 points to trade at 3.290 in late trade. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) declined 4.17% or 0.120 points to end at 2.760 and Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) shed 4.06% or 0.220 points to 5.200.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 675 to 469 and 360 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 2.43% to 11.301 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.11% or 1.45 to $1308.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.12% or 0.07 to hit $59.91 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $67.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.04% to 0.7108, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 78.76.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 95.797.