Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment, Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC), which rose 12.00% or 1.510 points to trade at 14.090 at the close. Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) added 8.83% or 0.155 points to end at 1.910 and Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH) was up 8.75% or 0.230 points to 2.860 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 5.28% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.690 in late trade. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) declined 5.00% or 0.040 points to end at 0.760 and Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) shed 4.94% or 0.380 points to 7.310.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 659 to 508 and 345 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 6.97% to 11.317 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.35 to $1328.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $56.94 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7097, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 78.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 96.475.