Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment, IT and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.21% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL), which rose 17.58% or 0.287 points to trade at 1.920 at the close. Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) added 7.22% or 0.070 points to end at 1.040 and Link Administration Holdings Ltd (AX:LNK) was up 6.06% or 0.460 points to 8.050 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which lost 5.10% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.980 in late trade. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) declined 4.04% or 0.115 points to end at 2.735 and Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) shed 4.01% or 0.220 points to 5.260.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 719 to 500 and 397 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 up 5.16% to 12.047.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.18% or 2.10 to $1181.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $65.44 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $71.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7269, while AUD/JPY rose 0.10% to 80.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 96.46.