Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the A-REITs, Gold and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.29%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC), which rose 7.03% or 0.180 points to trade at 2.740 at the close. Meanwhile, Asaleo Care (AX:AHY) added 3.11% or 0.050 points to end at 1.660 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 2.03% or 0.080 points to 4.020 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which fell 6.25% or 0.200 points to trade at 3.000 at the close. Infigen Energy (AX:IFN) declined 5.52% or 0.045 points to end at 0.770 and Trade Me Group Ltd (AX:TME) was down 5.26% or 0.280 points to 5.040.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 612 to 437 and 314 ended unchanged.
Shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) rose to 3-years highs; rising 7.03% or 0.180 to 2.740.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.41% to 14.106.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.12% or 1.45 to $1254.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.12% or 0.06 to hit $50.50 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.10% or 0.05 to trade at $52.56 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.17% to 0.7572, while AUD/JPY fell 0.20% to 78.69.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.34% at 96.99.