Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Discretionary and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.18%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Idp Education Ltd (AX:IEL), which rose 8.82% or 0.870 points to trade at 10.730 at the close. Brambles Ltd (AX:BXB) added 6.63% or 0.660 points to end at 10.620 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) was up 5.71% or 0.060 points to 1.110 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which lost 15.63% or 3.710 points to trade at 20.020 in late trade. Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC) declined 10.76% or 0.940 points to end at 7.800 and Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) shed 7.50% or 2.230 points to 27.510.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 632 to 614 and 399 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 5.65% to 12.039.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1194.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.62% or 0.42 to hit $68.25 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.55% or 0.41 to trade at $75.14 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.43% to 0.7279, while AUD/JPY rose 0.52% to 81.07.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.15% at 95.41.