Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Staples, Real Estate Investment and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.75%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR), which rose 4.66% or 0.210 points to trade at 4.720 at the close. Asaleo Care (AX:AHY) added 4.38% or 0.060 points to end at 1.430 and Spark New Zealand Ltd (AX:SPK) was up 4.19% or 0.140 points to 3.480 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN), which lost 7.05% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.110 in late trade. Technology One Ltd (AX:TNE) declined 6.52% or 0.360 points to end at 5.160 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) shed 4.81% or 0.190 points to 3.760.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 646 to 431 and 330 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 3.93% to 12.410.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.56% or 6.70 to $1183.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $53.80 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $56.20 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7530, while AUD/JPY rose 0.31% to 86.58.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.15% at 100.67.