Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Energy and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.58% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH), which rose 6.68% or 0.310 points to trade at 4.950 at the close. Ozforex Grp (ASX:OFX) added 6.20% or 0.160 points to end at 2.740 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was up 6.00% or 0.060 points to 1.060 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Santos Ltd (ASX:STO), which lost 8.97% or 0.590 points to trade at 5.990 in late trade. Syrah Res F (ASX:SYR) declined 7.06% or 0.240 points to end at 3.160 and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) shed 6.54% or 0.070 points to 1.000.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 516 to 455 and 139 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 3.23% to 19.812 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.30 to $1115.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.39% or 0.17 to hit $42.06 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.06% or 0.03 to trade at $49.66 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.38% to 0.7388, while AUD/JPY rose 0.29% to 91.83.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.03% at 96.34.