Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX), which rose 5.42% or 0.058 points to trade at 1.117 at the close. Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) added 4.82% or 0.390 points to end at 8.480 and TPG Telecom Ltd (AX:TPM) was up 4.46% or 0.250 points to 5.860 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which lost 6.10% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.000 in late trade. Infigen Energy (AX:IFN) declined 5.13% or 0.040 points to end at 0.740 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) shed 4.21% or 0.150 points to 3.410.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 624 to 534 and 424 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 6.90% to 12.583.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.38% or 4.76 to $1254.16 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.49% or 0.21 to hit $42.95 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.51% or 0.23 to trade at $45.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7557, while AUD/JPY rose 0.17% to 84.10.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 97.15.