Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Financials and Energy sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.64% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Recall Hold (AX:REC), which rose 7.20% or 0.540 points to trade at 8.040 at the close. IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) added 5.21% or 0.340 points to end at 6.870 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 2.47% or 0.070 points to 2.900 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL), which lost 5.64% or 0.180 points to trade at 3.010 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 5.09% or 0.110 points to end at 2.050 and Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX:PRG) shed 4.73% or 0.070 points to 1.410.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 544 to 343 and 299 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 7.88% to 17.614.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.13% or 1.60 to $1234.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.20% or 0.46 to hit $37.88 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 1.04% or 0.42 to trade at $39.91 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7660, while AUD/JPY fell 0.32% to 85.94.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.04% at 94.61.