Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Consumer Staples and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.44%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC), which rose 5.46% or 0.360 points to trade at 6.950 at the close. Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) added 5.10% or 0.025 points to end at 0.515 and Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) was up 3.79% or 0.460 points to 12.600 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Technology One Ltd (AX:TNE), which lost 7.12% or 0.420 points to trade at 5.480 in late trade. Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) declined 6.04% or 0.110 points to end at 1.710 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) shed 5.56% or 0.250 points to 4.250.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 559 to 556 and 355 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 2.41% to 16.553.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.01% or 0.10 to $1228.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 2.62% or 1.43 to hit $53.20 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.23% or 0.77 to trade at $61.83 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.7246, while AUD/JPY fell 0.21% to 81.77.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.26% at 96.335.