Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the IT, Energy and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.59%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN), which rose 6.37% or 0.100 points to trade at 1.670 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) added 4.86% or 0.125 points to end at 2.695 and Growthpoint Properties Australia (AX:GOZ) was up 4.44% or 0.140 points to 3.290 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU), which fell 6.08% or 0.375 points to trade at 5.795 at the close. Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV) declined 5.41% or 0.230 points to end at 4.020 and Ozforex Grp (AX:OFX) was down 4.67% or 0.098 points to 1.992.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 512 to 424 and 345 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.80% to 18.351.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.02% or 0.20 to $1237.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 2.12% or 0.79 to hit $38.05 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.57% or 0.62 to trade at $40.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.39% to 0.7535, while AUD/JPY rose 0.89% to 81.93.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.11% at 94.60.