Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Gold sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Downer Edi Ltd (AX:DOW), which rose 6.03% or 0.270 points to trade at 4.750 at the close. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) added 5.79% or 0.250 points to end at 4.570 and Mantra Group Ltd (AX:MTR) was up 5.14% or 0.170 points to 3.480 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Iron Mountain Inc (AX:INM), which lost 6.08% or 3.25 points to trade at 50.20 in late trade. CYBG PLC (AX:CYB) declined 2.77% or 0.125 points to end at 4.395 and Sai Global Ltd (AX:SAI) shed 2.60% or 0.090 points to 3.370.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 663 to 411 and 321 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 6.78% to 14.490.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.24% or 3.35 to $1370.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.88% or 0.37 to hit $41.56 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.88% or 0.39 to trade at $43.90 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7656, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 77.37.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.10% at 95.65.