Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare, Telecoms Services and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.78% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC), which rose 6.15% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.380 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) added 5.61% or 0.120 points to end at 2.260 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was up 5.53% or 0.070 points to 1.335 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV), which lost 9.70% or 0.670 points to trade at 6.240 in late trade. Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) declined 6.57% or 0.220 points to end at 3.130 and Japara Fpo (AX:JHC) shed 5.35% or 0.115 points to 2.035.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 570 to 473 and 330 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 6.14% to 14.028.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.12% or 1.55 to $1315.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.53% or 0.23 to hit $43.39 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.53% or 0.24 to trade at $45.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7559, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 78.17.
The US Dollar Index was unchanged 0.00% at 95.66.