Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Utilities and IT sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.80% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which rose 4.16% or 0.690 points to trade at 17.290 at the close. Aurizon Holdings Ltd (AX:AZJ) added 3.38% or 0.150 points to end at 4.590 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) was up 3.23% or 0.015 points to 0.480 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which lost 11.45% or 0.570 points to trade at 4.410 in late trade. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) declined 7.87% or 0.700 points to end at 8.200 and AMP Ltd (AX:AMP) shed 5.17% or 0.180 points to 3.300.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 768 to 449 and 379 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 2.78% to 11.930 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.17% or 2.10 to $1223.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.04% or 0.03 to hit $69.64 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.01% or 0.01 to trade at $74.55 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7389, while AUD/JPY rose 0.05% to 82.09.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 94.51.