Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.59%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Staples , Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.59%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were NRW Holdings Ltd (AX: NWH ), which rose 10.65% or 0.280 points to trade at 2.910 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX: SYR ) added 8.23% or 0.095 points to end at 1.250 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX: FMG ) was up 6.67% or 0.560 points to 8.960 in late trade.

Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ), which lost 9.49% or 0.305 points to trade at 2.910 in late trade. ANZ Banking Group (AX: ANZ ) declined 3.26% or 0.870 points to end at 25.790 and Mcmillan Shakespeare Ltd (AX: MMS ) shed 2.84% or 0.360 points to 12.310.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 684 to 465 and 402 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 4.17% to 14.021.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.13% or 1.65 to $1287.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $62.87 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.21% or 0.15 to trade at $72.47 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.09% to 0.6886, while AUD/JPY fell 0.32% to 75.45.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 97.615.