Stock indices in Australia rose at the end of today’s session; The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.50%, according to Investing.com

Investing.com – Australian shares rose after the close on Friday, as gains in the equities sector led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the index rose 0.50%.

The best performers of the session were Abyan Limited (ASX:), which rose 16.21%, or 0.36 points, to 2.55 at close. Meanwhile, Mesoplast Ltd (ASX:) rose 10.98% or 0.28 points to close at 2.83, while St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) rose 10.00% or 0.02 points to 0.22 at the end of the session.

As for the weakest performance at the end of today’s trading, Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:) shares closed down 1.69%, or 0.01 points, and traded at 0.58 levels at the close. Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:) fell by 2.27%, or 0.07 points, to 3.01, while Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:) fell by 1.08%, or 0.02 points, to 1.38.

The number of advancing shares outnumbered the declining shares on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 694 shares, reaching 358 shares, and 432 shares closed unchanged.

Which measures the implied standard deviation of options on the S&P/ASX 200 Index traded down 5.67% to close at 10.59.

Gold futures for February delivery fell 0.15%, or 3.89, to close at $2,650.01 per ounce. Elsewhere in commodity trading, crude oil contracts for February delivery fell 0.04%, or 0.03, to reach a price of $69.59 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.03%, or 0.02, to close at $72.83 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.62, while AUD/JPY fell 0.37% to 97.92.

US Dollar Index futures rose 0.05% to 107.94.