Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL), which rose 3.98% or 0.460 points to trade at 12.010 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 3.67% or 0.045 points to end at 1.270 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) was up 3.52% or 0.095 points to 2.795 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Regis Healthcare Ltd (AX:REG), which lost 4.78% or 0.200 points to trade at 3.980 in late trade. Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) declined 4.55% or 0.185 points to end at 3.885 and Santos Ltd (AX:STO) shed 4.01% or 0.130 points to 3.110.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 559 to 518 and 385 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 3.47% to 12.530.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.22% or 2.85 to $1276.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.13% or 0.06 to hit $45.58 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.10% or 0.05 to trade at $47.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.20% to 0.7534, while AUD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 83.03.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 97.26.