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 added 0.18% to hit a new 5-year high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN), which rose 6.71% or 0.310 points to trade at 4.930 at the close. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) added 5.52% or 0.460 points to end at 8.800 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) was up 5.51% or 0.550 points to 10.530 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF), which lost 6.46% or 0.450 points to trade at 6.520 in late trade. AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) declined 5.80% or 0.130 points to end at 2.110 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (ASX:ALG) shed 5.80% or 0.065 points to 1.055.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 641 to 592 and 371 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 2.44% to 13.546.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.05% or 14.05 to $1357.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.25% or 0.13 to hit $52.15 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.07 to trade at $61.38 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.19% to 0.6900, while AUD/JPY fell 0.30% to 74.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 97.018.