Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Energy, Industrials and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.26%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS), which rose 3.80% or 0.100 points to trade at 2.730 at the close. Meanwhile, Infigen Energy (AX:IFN) added 3.51% or 0.020 points to end at 0.590 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) was up 3.51% or 0.330 points to 9.730 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were James Hardie Industries PLC (AX:JHX), which fell 7.62% or 1.770 points to trade at 21.450 at the close. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) declined 4.25% or 0.720 points to end at 16.220 and G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) was down 3.51% or 0.085 points to 2.335.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 623 to 576 and 363 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 11.45% to 9.671 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.41% or 5.00 to $1214.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.21% or 0.14 to hit $66.67 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.18% or 0.13 to trade at $71.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.61% to 0.7328, while AUD/JPY fell 0.67% to 81.35.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.43% at 95.87.