Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG), which rose 5.22% or 0.190 points to trade at 3.830 at the close. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) added 4.41% or 0.075 points to end at 1.775 and Resmed Inc DRC (AX:RMD) was up 3.64% or 0.500 points to 14.250 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Primary Health Care Ltd (AX:PRY), which lost 7.66% or 0.210 points to trade at 2.530 in late trade. G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) declined 7.28% or 0.150 points to end at 1.910 and AMP Ltd (AX:AMP) shed 6.72% or 0.170 points to 2.360.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 593 to 554 and 347 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 9.68% to 20.124.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.19% or 2.30 to $1234.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.05% or 0.71 to hit $66.62 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.79% or 0.61 to trade at $76.28 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.68% to 0.7031, while AUD/JPY fell 0.94% to 78.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.25% at 96.42.