Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.59% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (AX:NAN), which rose 8.19% or 0.185 points to trade at 2.445 at the close. Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (AX:DMP) added 7.92% or 3.220 points to end at 43.870 and TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) was up 4.73% or 0.250 points to 5.530 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Qantas Airways Ltd (AX:QAN), which lost 2.82% or 0.17 points to trade at 5.68 in late trade. Webjet Ltd (AX:WEB) declined 2.57% or 0.285 points to end at 10.825 and Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) shed 2.51% or 0.210 points to 8.150.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 684 to 543 and 391 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 4.21% to 11.860.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.02% or 0.30 to $1317.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.31% or 0.21 to hit $67.98 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.26 to trade at $74.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.7548, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 82.47.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 91.35.