Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.52%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Asciano Ltd (AX:AIO), which rose 8.47% or 0.640 points to trade at 8.200 at the close. Meanwhile, Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX:SXL) added 6.52% or 0.060 points to end at 0.980 and Flexigroup Ltd (AX:FXL) was up 5.15% or 0.150 points to 3.060 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Dicksmith Fpo (AX:DSH), which fell 10.32% or 0.080 points to trade at 0.695 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 5.91% or 0.150 points to end at 2.390 and Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) was down 5.24% or 0.060 points to 1.085.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 511 to 484 and 140 ended unchanged.
Shares in Dicksmith Fpo (AX:DSH) fell to all time lows; falling 10.32% or 0.080 to 0.695. Shares in Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) fell to 52-week lows; falling 5.24% or 0.060 to 1.085.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.70% to 19.189.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.10% or 1.10 to $1146.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.63% or 0.29 to hit $45.77 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.43% or 0.21 to trade at $48.59 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.61% to 0.7118, while AUD/JPY rose 0.32% to 85.94.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.12% at 97.25.