Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.11%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL), which rose 10.86% or 1.560 points to trade at 15.920 at the close. Meanwhile, Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) added 4.35% or 0.015 points to end at 0.360 and Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) was up 3.94% or 0.200 points to 5.280 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU), which fell 48.28% or 4.780 points to trade at 5.120 at the close. Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) declined 4.32% or 0.210 points to end at 4.650 and United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG) was down 3.49% or 0.15 points to 4.15.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 648 to 640 and 340 ended unchanged.
Shares in Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) fell to 3-years lows; losing 48.28% or 4.780 to 5.120.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.95% to 19.015.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.11% or 2.10 to $1906.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.74% or 0.30 to hit $40.34 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.64% or 0.27 to trade at $42.19 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7109, while AUD/JPY fell 0.20% to 74.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 93.067.