Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Gold and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.86% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Orica Ltd (AX:ORI), which rose 8.21% or 1.280 points to trade at 16.880 at the close. CYBG PLC (AX:CYB) added 7.09% or 0.300 points to end at 4.530 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) was up 5.51% or 0.095 points to 1.820 in late trade.
Biggest losers included M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX), which lost 14.66% or 0.250 points to trade at 1.455 in late trade. Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT) declined 8.19% or 2.700 points to end at 30.250 and Genworth Fp (AX:GMA) shed 7.62% or 0.230 points to 2.790.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 641 to 372 and 333 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 up 9.46% to 20.707 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.23% or 3.05 to $1300.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.36% or 0.16 to hit $44.82 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.37% or 0.17 to trade at $46.52 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.04% to 0.7679, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 79.22.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.11% at 97.30.