Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Real Estate Investment and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.70% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIP), which rose 10.12% or 0.130 points to trade at 1.415 at the close. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) added 7.69% or 0.160 points to end at 2.240 and Origin Energy Ltd (AX:ORG) was up 5.65% or 0.290 points to 5.420 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL), which lost 3.86% or 0.330 points to trade at 8.220 in late trade. Charter Hall Group (AX:CHC) declined 3.60% or 0.200 points to end at 5.350 and Ramsay Health Care Ltd (AX:RHC) shed 3.51% or 2.820 points to 77.450.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 620 to 457 and 319 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 12.58% to 15.191 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.25 to $1341.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.82% or 0.39 to hit $47.23 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.92% or 0.46 to trade at $49.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7653, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 78.18.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.21% at 94.84.