Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.42%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX), which rose 5.82% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.090 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 3.72% or 0.058 points to end at 1.603 and Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX) was up 2.87% or 0.410 points to 14.700 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL), which fell 4.95% or 0.073 points to trade at 1.393 at the close. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) declined 4.73% or 0.320 points to end at 6.440 and James Hardie Industries PLC (AX:JHX) was down 4.36% or 0.910 points to 19.940.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 584 to 503 and 305 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.28% to 13.045.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.35% or 4.25 to $1215.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.64% or 0.34 to hit $53.88 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.50% or 0.28 to trade at $56.84 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7651, while AUD/JPY rose 0.17% to 86.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 99.91.