Australia shares higher at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 up 0.46%

Investing.com – Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Real Estate Investment , Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46% to hit a new 3-month high.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Invocare Ltd (AX: IVC ), which rose 12.00% or 1.510 points to trade at 14.090 at the close. Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX: AHG ) added 8.83% or 0.155 points to end at 1.910 and Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX: PGH ) was up 8.75% or 0.230 points to 2.860 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX: SAR ), which lost 5.28% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.690 in late trade. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX: MYX ) declined 5.00% or 0.040 points to end at 0.760 and Sandfire Resources NL (AX: SFR ) shed 4.94% or 0.380 points to 7.310.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 659 to 508 and 345 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 6.97% to 11.317 a new 3-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.03% or 0.35 to $1328.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $56.94 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7097, while AUD/JPY rose 0.15% to 78.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 96.475.