Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.48%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 8.42% or 0.330 points to trade at 4.250 at the close. Meanwhile, Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) added 5.65% or 0.200 points to end at 3.740 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 5.21% or 0.080 points to 1.615 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Asaleo Care (AX:AHY), which fell 29.91% or 0.640 points to trade at 1.500 at the close. GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) declined 5.40% or 0.115 points to end at 2.015 and Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) was down 4.25% or 0.090 points to 2.030.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 592 to 508 and 296 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.69% to 15.353.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.39% or 5.15 to $1325.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.36% or 0.16 to hit $44.59 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.15% or 0.07 to trade at $46.13 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.23% to 0.7476, while AUD/JPY fell 0.25% to 79.15.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 96.98.