Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrials, Consumer Discretionary and Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.30% to hit a new 6-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 14.24% or 0.210 points to trade at 1.685 at the close. Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR) added 5.43% or 0.063 points to end at 1.212 and Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) was up 5.10% or 0.400 points to 8.250 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which lost 3.97% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.605 in late trade. Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) declined 3.36% or 0.850 points to end at 24.450 and Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV) shed 2.87% or 0.220 points to 7.450.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 585 to 469 and 335 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 6.31% to 14.914 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.09% or 1.25 to $1333.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.99% or 0.45 to hit $45.23 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.97% or 0.46 to trade at $46.91 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7625, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 80.58.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.01% at 96.11.