Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Resources and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.79%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 12.50% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.360 at the close. Santos Ltd (AX:STO) added 6.15% or 0.220 points to end at 3.800 and BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT) was up 5.67% or 0.540 points to 10.070 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which lost 12.34% or 0.195 points to trade at 1.385 in late trade. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) declined 7.59% or 0.340 points to end at 4.140 and Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) shed 7.51% or 1.820 points to 22.410.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 551 to 534 and 283 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 0.57% to 15.588.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.51% or 6.40 to $1260.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.22% or 0.10 to hit $44.56 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.07 to trade at $45.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7620, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 81.25.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.11% at 98.68.