Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.15%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which rose 6.98% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.300 at the close. Aveo Group (AX:AOG) added 4.28% or 0.110 points to end at 2.680 and Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) was up 2.59% or 0.520 points to 20.630 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM), which lost 2.42% or 0.390 points to trade at 15.700 in late trade. Altium Ltd (AX:ALU) declined 2.32% or 0.320 points to end at 13.500 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) shed 2.12% or 0.070 points to 3.230.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 663 to 500 and 383 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 1.44% to 10.064 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.03% or 0.40 to $1270.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.27% or 0.16 to hit $58.20 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.20% or 0.13 to trade at $64.77 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7713, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 87.39.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 92.99.