Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, IT and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Austal Ltd (AX:ASB), which rose 5.65% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.430 at the close. Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC) added 5.64% or 0.610 points to end at 11.430 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 5.60% or 0.260 points to 4.900 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH), which lost 12.13% or 0.370 points to trade at 2.680 in late trade. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG) declined 11.56% or 0.170 points to end at 1.300 and Primary Health Care Ltd (AX:PRY) shed 7.50% or 0.270 points to 3.330.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 511 to 434 and 142 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 2.92% to 17.927.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.58% or 6.30 to $1084.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.43% or 0.18 to hit $41.90 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.05% or 0.02 to trade at $44.23 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.06% to 0.7198, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 88.42.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.08% at 99.16.