Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Telecoms Services and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.18%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which rose 5.22% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.410 at the close. Meanwhile, UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) added 5.08% or 0.100 points to end at 2.070 and Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (ASX:MRM) was up 3.85% or 0.020 points to 0.540 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY), which fell 6.67% or 0.010 points to trade at 0.140 at the close. CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) declined 5.78% or 0.170 points to end at 2.770 and M2 Telecommunications Group Ltd (ASX:MTU) was down 4.91% or 0.490 points to 9.480.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 452 to 433 and 144 ended unchanged.
Shares in CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR) fell to 52-week lows; falling 5.78% or 0.170 to 2.770.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.56% to 24.901.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.43% or 4.80 to $1108.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.92% or 0.86 to hit $45.60 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.40% or 0.67 to trade at $48.36 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.7046, while AUD/JPY rose 0.31% to 84.56.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 96.38.