Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.23%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare , IT and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.23%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (AX: TAH ), which rose 5.26% or 0.250 points to trade at 5.000 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX: SGM ) added 3.41% or 0.470 points to end at 14.250 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) was up 3.30% or 0.100 points to 3.130 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX: CGC ), which lost 3.39% or 0.230 points to trade at 6.550 in late trade. Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX: AAC ) declined 3.21% or 0.045 points to end at 1.355 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX: BPT ) shed 3.18% or 0.035 points to 1.065.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 688 to 494 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 7.24% to 12.381.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.36% or 4.62 to $1282.82 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.25% or 0.14 to hit $55.28 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.28% or 0.17 to trade at $61.19 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.22% to 0.7571, while AUD/JPY fell 0.68% to 85.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.33% at 93.53.