Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.21%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL), which rose 6.39% or 0.230 points to trade at 3.830 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) added 6.51% or 0.250 points to end at 4.090 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 5.19% or 0.098 points to 1.978 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Premier Investments Ltd (AX:PMV), which lost 3.82% or 0.725 points to trade at 18.275 in late trade. Pendal Group Ltd (AX:PDL) declined 3.38% or 0.310 points to end at 8.860 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) shed 3.12% or 0.280 points to 8.700.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 701 to 481 and 381 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 3.62% to 11.274.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.21% or 2.60 to $1213.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $70.34 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.22 to trade at $78.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7296, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 82.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 93.48.