Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.70%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, A-REITs and Metals&Mining sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.70%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which rose 2.20% or 0.01 points to trade at 0.47 at the close. Meanwhile, Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) added 2.03% or 0.03 points to end at 1.51 and Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) was up 1.97% or 1.34 points to 69.28 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which fell 8.31% or 0.16 points to trade at 1.71 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 7.32% or 0.03 points to end at 0.38 and Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) was down 7.10% or 1.84 points to 24.06.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 743 to 514 and 392 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 11.69% to 12.18.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.15% or 2.90 to $1,948.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.01% or 0.01 to hit $80.08 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.04 to trade at $83.75 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 1.09% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 1.00% to 92.62.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 101.71.