Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.19%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Energy and Industrials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.19%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 8.08% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.54 at the close. Meanwhile, AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) added 5.97% or 0.42 points to end at 7.45 and Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) was up 4.11% or 0.05 points to 1.14 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Brickworks Ltd (ASX:BKW), which fell 4.59% or 1.09 points to trade at 22.67 at the close. Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) declined 3.96% or 0.12 points to end at 2.91 and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) was down 2.94% or 0.20 points to 6.60.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 645 to 570 and 385 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.11% to 14.26.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.28% or 5.60 to $1,990.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.43% or 0.30 to hit $70.26 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.36% or 0.27 to trade at $76.18 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.26% to 87.19.

The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 102.21.