Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.87%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.87%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qube Holdings Ltd (ASX:QUB), which rose 5.08% or 0.13 points to trade at 2.69 at the close. Meanwhile, Vicinity Centres Re Ltd (ASX:VCX) added 4.28% or 0.08 points to end at 1.95 and Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) was up 4.23% or 0.03 points to 0.74 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA), which fell 9.16% or 0.48 points to trade at 4.76 at the close. Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) declined 8.23% or 0.10 points to end at 1.12 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) was down 8.15% or 1.31 points to 14.76.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 798 to 493 and 378 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.10% to 17.39 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.58% or 9.70 to $1,655.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.59% or 1.42 to hit $87.66 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.28% or 1.22 to trade at $93.82 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.44% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 94.37.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.25% at 110.73.