Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, IT and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.11% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which rose 5.86% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.350 at the close. Virtus Health Ltd (ASX:VRT) added 4.69% or 0.270 points to end at 6.030 and Shopping Centres Australasia Group (ASX:SCP) was up 4.39% or 0.090 points to 2.140 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which lost 3.89% or 0.150 points to trade at 3.710 in late trade. Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX:SEA) declined 3.70% or 0.020 points to end at 0.520 and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) shed 2.86% or 0.010 points to 0.340.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 535 to 461 and 175 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 1.04% to 18.378.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.14% or 1.60 to $1176.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.68% or 0.40 to hit $57.60 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.40% or 0.25 to trade at $61.78 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7698, while AUD/JPY rose 0.24% to 95.82.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 95.52.