Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the IT, Healthcare and Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which rose 13.59% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.585 at the close. Fletcher Building Ltd (AX:FBU) added 8.29% or 0.460 points to end at 6.010 and Primary Health Care Ltd (AX:PRY) was up 7.67% or 0.280 points to 3.930 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which lost 4.76% or 1.010 points to trade at 20.200 in late trade. A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) declined 2.86% or 0.340 points to end at 11.560 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT) shed 2.49% or 1.420 points to 55.550.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 654 to 548 and 367 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 6.93% to 12.740.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.13% or 1.70 to $1340.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.15% or 0.10 to hit $66.97 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.14% or 0.10 to trade at $71.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.30% to 0.7777, while AUD/JPY rose 0.49% to 83.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 89.53.