Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.08%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Healthscope (AX:HSO), which rose 6.74% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.900 at the close. Meanwhile, Medibank Private Ltd (AX:MPL) added 4.28% or 0.130 points to end at 3.170 and Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) was up 3.97% or 0.075 points to 1.965 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (AX:SGR), which fell 6.28% or 0.380 points to trade at 5.670 at the close. IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) declined 6.10% or 0.250 points to end at 3.850 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was down 5.14% or 0.180 points to 3.320.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 617 to 569 and 365 ended unchanged.
Shares in IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) fell to 3-years lows; losing 6.10% or 0.250 to 3.850.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.18% to 17.245.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.42% or 5.70 to $1361.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.64% or 0.39 to hit $61.73 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.40 to trade at $64.73 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7967, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 84.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 88.22.