Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Healthcare and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 13.16% or 0.300 points to trade at 2.580 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) added 12.63% or 0.470 points to end at 4.190 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) was up 8.18% or 0.065 points to 0.860 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (AX:CTD), which lost 8.96% or 2.000 points to trade at 20.320 in late trade. CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) declined 6.96% or 0.250 points to end at 3.340 and Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) shed 5.26% or 0.035 points to 0.630.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 646 to 498 and 338 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 4.44% to 15.855.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.24% or 3.00 to $1235.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.11% or 0.07 to hit $63.76 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.48% or 0.35 to trade at $73.24 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.49% to 0.7241, while AUD/JPY rose 0.73% to 81.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.91% at 96.02.