Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Financials and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.80%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Syrah Res F (AX:SYR), which rose 5.77% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.750 at the close. Asaleo Care (AX:AHY) added 5.68% or 0.090 points to end at 1.680 and Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC) was up 4.72% or 0.075 points to 1.665 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Downer Edi Ltd (AX:DOW), which lost 20.71% or 1.450 points to trade at 5.550 in late trade. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) declined 3.76% or 0.080 points to end at 2.050 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) shed 3.58% or 0.050 points to 1.345.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 565 to 467 and 406 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 3.13% to 11.873.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.38% or 4.75 to $1242.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.25% or 0.12 to hit $47.82 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.07 to trade at $50.63 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.13% to 0.7617, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 84.78.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 99.78.