Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Real Estate Investment, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX), which rose 3.94% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.660 at the close. Transurban Group (AX:TCL) added 3.66% or 0.450 points to end at 12.730 and Crown Ltd (AX:CWN) was up 3.21% or 0.400 points to 12.850 in late trade.
Biggest losers included HT&E Ltd (AX:HT1), which lost 7.04% or 0.140 points to trade at 1.850 in late trade. Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG) declined 4.68% or 0.140 points to end at 2.850 and Macquarie Atlas Roads Group (AX:MQA) shed 3.77% or 0.240 points to 6.120.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 631 to 576 and 343 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 down 3.59% to 11.016.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.05% or 0.60 to $1256.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.21% or 0.12 to hit $57.16 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $63.33 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.04% to 0.7670, while AUD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 86.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 93.60.