Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.25%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.25%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were TPG Telecom Ltd (AX: TPM ), which rose 5.12% or 0.310 points to trade at 6.360 at the close. Spark Infrastructure Group (AX: SKI ) added 3.64% or 0.080 points to end at 2.280 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX: SAR ) was up 3.41% or 0.100 points to 3.030 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nufarm Ltd (AX: NUF ), which lost 4.74% or 0.230 points to trade at 4.620 in late trade. Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ) declined 4.48% or 0.045 points to end at 0.960 and Adelaide Brighton Ltd (AX: ABC ) shed 3.72% or 0.140 points to 3.620.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 599 to 529 and 387 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 up 0.91% to 13.945.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.00% or 0.05 to $1285.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.63% or 0.39 to hit $62.09 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.48% or 0.34 to trade at $70.73 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.6995, while AUD/JPY rose 0.11% to 76.80.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 97.208.