Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the A-REITs, Gold and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.25% to hit a new 3-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO), which rose 4.03% or 3.21 points to trade at 82.93 at the close. Meanwhile, Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) added 2.13% or 0.08 points to end at 3.84 and James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX:JHX) was up 1.66% or 0.57 points to 34.87 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH), which fell 5.79% or 0.14 points to trade at 2.28 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) declined 5.75% or 1.06 points to end at 17.39 and Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) was down 5.72% or 0.52 points to 8.57.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1102 to 340 and 373 ended unchanged.
Shares in Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) fell to 52-week lows; losing 5.79% or 0.14 to 2.28.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.75% to 17.85.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.19% or 3.50 to $1,849.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.56% or 0.68 to hit $120.83 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.55% or 0.68 to trade at $122.39 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.54% to 0.71, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 95.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 103.07.