Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.81%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M), which rose 3.64% or 0.080 points to trade at 2.280 at the close. Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) added 2.59% or 0.090 points to end at 3.560 and Spotless Fp (AX:SPO) was up 2.50% or 0.020 points to 0.820 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which lost 9.90% or 0.155 points to trade at 1.410 in late trade. St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) declined 9.16% or 0.240 points to end at 2.380 and Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR) shed 9.08% or 0.445 points to 4.455.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 650 to 440 and 323 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 2.76% to 12.510.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.04% or 0.55 to $1233.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $52.67 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.13% or 0.07 to trade at $55.15 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.21% to 0.7556, while AUD/JPY fell 0.48% to 86.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 102.05.