Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Discretionary, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.01% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL), which rose 5.40% or 0.210 points to trade at 4.100 at the close. Rea Group Ltd (AX:REA) added 5.71% or 4.810 points to end at 89.110 and BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:PDL) was up 4.39% or 0.430 points to 10.220 in late trade.
Biggest losers included AMP Ltd (AX:AMP), which lost 5.81% or 0.230 points to trade at 3.730 in late trade. Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) declined 4.89% or 0.465 points to end at 9.045 and Link Administration Holdings Ltd (AX:LNK) shed 3.25% or 0.235 points to 7.005.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 632 to 571 and 405 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 3.50% to 10.922.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.20% or 2.70 to $1319.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.08% or 0.06 to hit $71.30 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.21% or 0.16 to trade at $77.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7538, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 82.52.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 92.62.