Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Materials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.14%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Challenger Ltd (AX:CGF), which rose 6.99% or 0.860 points to trade at 13.170 at the close. Meanwhile, Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX) added 4.82% or 0.160 points to end at 3.480 and CSL Ltd (AX:CSL) was up 4.16% or 7.31 points to 183.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were NIB Holdings (AX:NHF), which fell 5.20% or 0.305 points to trade at 5.555 at the close. Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) declined 4.45% or 0.150 points to end at 3.220 and IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) was down 4.39% or 0.195 points to 4.245.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 626 to 589 and 368 ended unchanged.
Shares in CSL Ltd (AX:CSL) rose to all time highs; rising 4.16% or 7.31 to 183.00.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.87% to 11.610.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.04% or 0.50 to $1288.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.18% or 0.13 to hit $71.62 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.30% or 0.24 to trade at $79.54 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.08% to 0.7518, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 83.34.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 93.34.