Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Telecoms Services and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.27%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which rose 4.49% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.930 at the close. Meanwhile, Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) added 3.92% or 0.020 points to end at 0.530 and Iress Ltd (AX:IRE) was up 2.73% or 0.270 points to 10.150 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM), which fell 6.22% or 0.155 points to trade at 2.335 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) declined 5.21% or 0.175 points to end at 3.185 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was down 4.63% or 0.260 points to 5.350.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 640 to 522 and 416 ended unchanged.
Shares in G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM) fell to 3-years lows; down 6.22% or 0.155 to 2.335.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.94% to 11.007.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.28% or 3.80 to $1345.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.19% or 0.13 to hit $68.16 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.11 to trade at $73.67 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.22% to 0.7712, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 82.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 89.71.