Australia equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary, S&P/ASX 200 REIT and S&P/ASX 200 Health Care sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.08% to hit a new all time high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP), which rose 5.17% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.42 at the close. Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (ASX:CTD) added 4.18% or 0.59 points to end at 14.71 and ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) was up 3.62% or 1.20 points to 34.37 in late trade.
Biggest losers included G8 Education Ltd (ASX:GEM), which fell 3.52% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.96 in late trade. South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) declined 2.50% or 0.08 points to end at 3.12 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) down 2.14% or 0.13 points to 5.94.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones by 576 to 489 and 468 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
Shares in G8 Education Ltd (ASX:GEM) fell to 52-week lows; falling 3.52% or 0.04 to 0.96.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.62% to 10.99.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.27% or 9.00 to $3,351.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.34% or 0.23 to hit $66.77 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.52% or 0.36 to trade at $68.44 a barrel.
