Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, IT and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC), which rose 9.23% or 0.150 points to trade at 1.775 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 8.82% or 0.090 points to end at 1.110 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 8.04% or 0.300 points to 4.030 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ), which lost 13.55% or 0.105 points to trade at 0.670 in late trade. Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG) declined 13.44% or 0.430 points to end at 2.770 and Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC) shed 12.38% or 0.26 points to 1.84.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 652 to 512 and 343 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 6.50% to 20.369.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.42% or 5.20 to $1222.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.97% or 0.69 to hit $71.66 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.08% or 0.87 to trade at $81.13 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.07% to 0.7119, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 80.02.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 94.75.