Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which rose 9.14% or 0.360 points to trade at 4.300 at the close. Orora Fpo (AX:ORA) added 6.09% or 0.170 points to end at 2.960 and Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) was up 5.44% or 0.130 points to 2.520 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which lost 8.80% or 0.095 points to trade at 0.985 in late trade. M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX) declined 8.77% or 0.125 points to end at 1.300 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) shed 8.00% or 0.070 points to 0.805.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 553 to 454 and 337 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.10% to 11.272 a new 52-week low.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.19% or 2.15 to $1131.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.59% or 0.30 to hit $51.20 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.46% or 0.25 to trade at $54.27 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7358, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 86.98.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 103.10.