Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.42%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Consumer Staples and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.42%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which rose 12.00% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.28 at the close. Meanwhile, Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) added 6.18% or 0.78 points to end at 13.40 and Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) was up 5.25% or 0.27 points to 5.41 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which fell 3.01% or 0.04 points to trade at 1.29 at the close. Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:DOW) declined 2.27% or 0.12 points to end at 5.17 and Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:DHG) was down 2.26% or 0.06 points to 2.59.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 531 to 488 and 463 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.27% to 11.17.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.27% or 7.17 to $2,697.97 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.55% or 0.41 to hit $74.33 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.53% or 0.41 to trade at $77.33 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 0.62, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 98.12.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 109.12.