Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Industrials and IT sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which rose 5.47% or 0.835 points to trade at 16.105 at the close. Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC) added 4.74% or 0.810 points to end at 17.900 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was up 3.26% or 0.115 points to 3.645 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL), which lost 4.12% or 0.055 points to trade at 1.280 in late trade. GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) declined 3.45% or 0.120 points to end at 3.360 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) shed 3.17% or 0.035 points to 1.070.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 669 to 495 and 374 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 7.65% to 11.918.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.06% or 0.80 to $1245.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.01% or 0.01 to hit $70.34 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.22 to trade at $74.23 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7416, while AUD/JPY rose 0.18% to 83.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 94.67.