Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.24%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.24%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR), which rose 17.95% or 0.18 points to trade at 1.15 at the close. Meanwhile, Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) added 9.54% or 1.73 points to end at 19.87 and AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) was up 8.26% or 0.10 points to 1.25 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Bluescope Steel Ltd (ASX:BSL), which fell 3.56% or 0.75 points to trade at 20.30 at the close. A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) declined 3.14% or 0.16 points to end at 4.93 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was down 2.95% or 0.22 points to 7.23.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 612 to 601 and 434 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.95% to 11.29.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.30 to $1,949.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.21% or 0.17 to hit $82.99 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.21% or 0.18 to trade at $86.58 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.20% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 94.37.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 102.33.