Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, A-REITs and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.69% to hit a new 3-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which rose 1.57% or 0.03 points to trade at 1.95 at the close. Meanwhile, Codan Ltd (ASX:CDA) added 0.92% or 0.07 points to end at 7.65 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was up 0.88% or 0.02 points to 1.71 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which fell 8.33% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.38 at the close. Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) declined 5.33% or 0.09 points to end at 1.51 and Ingenia Communities Group (ASX:INA) was down 4.94% or 0.19 points to 3.66.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 816 to 396 and 442 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 7.91% to 13.68 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.25% or 4.85 to $1,920.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.54% or 0.39 to hit $72.19 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.40 to trade at $76.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.07% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.51% to 94.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 102.78.