Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the A-REITs, Industrials and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.22% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA), which rose 7.85% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.610 at the close. Meanwhile, Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) added 5.86% or 0.170 points to end at 3.070 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) was up 5.42% or 0.130 points to 2.530 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were AMP Ltd (AX:AMP), which fell 9.13% or 0.470 points to trade at 4.680 at the close. Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) declined 5.12% or 0.110 points to end at 2.040 and Carsales.Com Ltd (AX:CAR) was down 4.33% or 0.500 points to 11.050.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 574 to 483 and 320 ended unchanged.
Shares in AMP Ltd (AX:AMP) fell to 52-week lows; falling 9.13% or 0.470 to 4.680.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.93% to 14.831.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.00% or 0.05 to $1269.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $49.72 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.02 to trade at $50.49 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7590, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 79.93.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.04% at 98.88.