Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT), which rose 9.20% or 0.790 points to trade at 9.380 at the close. Perpetual Ltd (AX:PPT) added 4.55% or 1.825 points to end at 41.925 and Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX:AHG) was up 4.18% or 0.115 points to 2.865 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which lost 3.74% or 0.033 points to trade at 0.838 in late trade. CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) declined 3.58% or 0.170 points to end at 4.580 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP) shed 3.09% or 0.580 points to 18.170.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 745 to 587 and 438 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 2.23% to 13.390 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.14% or 1.80 to $1252.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.23% or 0.17 to hit $73.28 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.04 to trade at $77.57 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.53% to 0.7391, while AUD/JPY rose 0.71% to 81.82.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.47% at 94.55.