Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the A-REITs, Healthcare and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.55%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which rose 9.15% or 0.915 points to trade at 10.915 at the close. Meanwhile, Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) added 2.55% or 0.060 points to end at 2.410 and Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA) was up 2.34% or 0.150 points to 6.570 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT), which fell 7.79% or 0.960 points to trade at 11.370 at the close. Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) declined 6.46% or 0.078 points to end at 1.123 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT) was down 4.11% or 1.640 points to 38.230.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 752 to 483 and 394 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 11.35% to 13.149.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.04% or 0.54 to $1245.26 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.67% or 0.30 to hit $45.23 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.61% or 0.29 to trade at $47.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7692, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 86.15.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 95.34.