Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Healthcare and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 1.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which rose 5.63% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.190 at the close. Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) added 5.00% or 0.100 points to end at 2.100 and Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA) was up 3.52% or 0.170 points to 5.000 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bravura Solutions Ltd (AX:BVS), which lost 2.58% or 0.100 points to trade at 3.780 in late trade. APA Group (AX:APA) declined 2.52% or 0.220 points to end at 8.500 and Stockland Corporation Ltd (AX:SGP) shed 2.43% or 0.090 points to 3.610.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 611 to 412 and 282 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 2.67% to 18.089.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.02% or 0.25 to $1280.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.38% or 1.06 to hit $45.67 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.97% or 1.04 to trade at $53.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7046, while AUD/JPY fell 0.13% to 77.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 95.942.