Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.74%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Unibail Rodamco Westfield (ASX:URW), which rose 6.54% or 0.31 points to trade at 5.05 at the close. Meanwhile, Oil Search Ltd (ASX:OSH) added 4.99% or 0.210 points to end at 4.420 and Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) was up 4.72% or 0.350 points to 7.760 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC), which fell 6.35% or 0.410 points to trade at 6.050 at the close. Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) declined 5.91% or 1.43 points to end at 22.78 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) was down 5.25% or 0.53 points to 9.56.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1021 to 396 and 296 ended unchanged.
Shares in Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) rose to 52-week highs; up 4.72% or 0.350 to 7.760.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.91% to 16.614.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.23% or 3.90 to $1696.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.54% or 0.98 to hit $64.81 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.72% or 1.15 to trade at $67.89 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.33% to 0.7700, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 83.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 91.743.