Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.76%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which rose 5.29% or 0.05 points to trade at 1.00 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) added 3.83% or 0.11 points to end at 2.98 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) was up 3.70% or 0.36 points to 10.10 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which lost 3.49% or 0.01 points to trade at 0.21 in late trade. Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) declined 3.33% or 0.06 points to end at 1.67 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) shed 3.15% or 0.45 points to 13.84.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 587 to 499 and 446 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 5.97% to 11.99.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.54% or 12.80 to $2,366.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.18% or 0.14 to hit $78.42 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.16 to trade at $82.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.24% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 100.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 104.08.