Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Energy, Industrials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.56%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST), which rose 4.17% or 0.390 points to trade at 9.750 at the close. Meanwhile, Shopping Centres Australasia Group (ASX:SCP) added 3.77% or 0.090 points to end at 2.480 and Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) was up 3.65% or 0.98 points to 27.80 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR), which fell 4.44% or 0.075 points to trade at 1.615 at the close. Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) declined 3.98% or 0.050 points to end at 1.205 and Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) was down 3.43% or 0.860 points to 24.200.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 722 to 550 and 377 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 9.95% to 13.754.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.63% or 10.85 to $1743.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.42% or 0.25 to hit $60.25 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.33% or 0.21 to trade at $63.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7765, while AUD/JPY rose 0.00% to 84.45.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 91.690.