Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms Services, Real Estate Investment and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU), which rose 6.60% or 0.400 points to trade at 6.460 at the close. Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) added 6.00% or 0.120 points to end at 2.120 and Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) was up 4.70% or 0.360 points to 8.020 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which lost 7.39% or 0.195 points to trade at 2.445 in late trade. Charter Hall Group (AX:CHC) declined 6.32% or 0.340 points to end at 5.040 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) shed 6.25% or 0.020 points to 0.300.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 626 to 416 and 392 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 7.69% to 12.566.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.15% or 2.00 to $1338.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 1.12% or 0.52 to hit $45.80 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.82% or 0.39 to trade at $47.26 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.10% to 0.7635, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 77.10.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.15% at 95.45.