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 rose 0.48% to hit a new 52-week high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR), which rose 6.66% or 0.390 points to trade at 6.250 at the close. Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) added 4.72% or 0.050 points to end at 1.110 and Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) was up 4.64% or 0.130 points to 2.930 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX), which lost 6.72% or 0.045 points to trade at 0.625 in late trade. A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) declined 3.96% or 0.300 points to end at 7.280 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) shed 2.78% or 0.140 points to 4.890.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 727 to 496 and 381 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 6.47% to 10.880 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.00% or 0.06 to $1278.16 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.48% or 0.26 to hit $54.80 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.33% or 0.20 to trade at $60.82 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.32% to 0.7688, while AUD/JPY fell 0.41% to 87.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 94.59.