Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Energy, Consumer Staples and IT sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.50%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were G8 Education Ltd (ASX:GEM), which rose 4.13% or 0.145 points to trade at 3.655 at the close. Greencross Ltd (ASX:GXL) added 4.07% or 0.300 points to end at 7.670 and Ten Network Holdings Ltd (ASX:TEN) was up 3.75% or 0.008 points to 0.207 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG), which lost 4.10% or 0.078 points to trade at 1.812 in late trade. Skilled Group Ltd (ASX:SKE) declined 4.04% or 0.055 points to end at 1.305 and Sandfire Resources NL (ASX:SFR) shed 3.45% or 0.150 points to 4.200.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 504 to 438 and 194 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 11.96% to 12.507.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.22% or 2.60 to $1196.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $50.77 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.05 to trade at $56.71 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.02% to 0.7690, while AUD/JPY fell 0.09% to 92.67.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 99.17.