Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.10%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.10% to hit a new all time high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN), which rose 13.84% or 5.97 points to trade at 49.10 at the close. A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) added 8.89% or 0.51 points to end at 6.25 and Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX:TWE) was up 8.59% or 0.95 points to 12.01 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which lost 6.88% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.29 in late trade. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) declined 6.12% or 0.05 points to end at 0.69 and Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX:FBU) shed 6.02% or 0.16 points to 2.50.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 614 to 503 and 439 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 0.82% to 11.52.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.17% or 4.65 to $2,690.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.30% or 0.20 to hit $67.87 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.16 to trade at $71.25 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.16% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 1.04% to 98.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 100.24.