Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.07%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL), which rose 6.40% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.160 at the close. Eclipx Group Ltd (AX:ECX) added 4.72% or 0.085 points to end at 1.885 and Mirvac Group (AX:MGR) was up 4.17% or 0.110 points to 2.750 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which lost 6.09% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.080 in late trade. Perpetual Ltd (AX:PPT) declined 5.76% or 2.540 points to end at 41.590 and Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL) shed 4.28% or 0.240 points to 5.370.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 632 to 521 and 366 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 1.08% to 11.646.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.29% or 3.75 to $1298.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.03% or 0.02 to hit $58.59 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $67.20 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7085, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 79.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 96.667.