Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Staples and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.50% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 12.98% or 1.850 points to trade at 16.100 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) added 6.46% or 0.430 points to end at 7.090 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP) was up 5.27% or 1.060 points to 21.160 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Steadfast Group Ltd (AX:SDF), which lost 5.28% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.690 in late trade. Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) declined 4.91% or 0.110 points to end at 2.130 and Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd (AX:SYD) shed 2.88% or 0.190 points to 6.410.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 647 to 412 and 361 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 2.48% to 12.259 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.13% or 1.65 to $1290.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.25% or 0.65 to hit $52.72 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.11% or 0.68 to trade at $61.86 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7190, while AUD/JPY rose 0.11% to 78.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 95.750.