Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, IT and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.05%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG), which rose 43.21% or 0.175 points to trade at 0.580 at the close. Meanwhile, Infigen Energy Ltd (AX:IFN) added 11.76% or 0.050 points to end at 0.475 and Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) was up 8.50% or 0.125 points to 1.595 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC), which fell 8.90% or 0.14 points to trade at 1.49 at the close. Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG) declined 8.66% or 0.220 points to end at 2.320 and Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) was down 6.22% or 0.230 points to 3.470.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 643 to 418 and 349 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (AX:NEC) fell to 52-week lows; down 8.90% or 0.14 to 1.49. Shares in Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (AX:DHG) fell to all time lows; down 8.66% or 0.220 to 2.320.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.37% to 16.908.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.17% or 2.10 to $1245.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.42% or 0.22 to hit $52.36 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.72% or 0.44 to trade at $61.01 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.50% to 0.7191, while AUD/JPY fell 0.62% to 81.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 97.113.