Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Financials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.46%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (AX:RRL), which rose 6.23% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.960 at the close. Meanwhile, Ten Network Holdings Ltd (AX:TEN) added 3.33% or 0.005 points to end at 0.155 and Pacific Brands Ltd (AX:PBG) was up 2.88% or 0.020 points to 0.715 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (AX:MFG), which fell 8.82% or 2.350 points to trade at 24.300 at the close. Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) declined 6.40% or 0.490 points to end at 7.170 and Regis Healthcare Ltd (AX:REG) was down 6.32% or 0.380 points to 5.630.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 555 to 376 and 155 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ten Network Holdings Ltd (AX:TEN) rose to 5-year lows; gaining 3.33% or 0.005 to 0.155.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.96% to 18.333.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.01% or 0.10 to $1061.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.29% or 0.12 to hit $41.20 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.43% or 0.19 to trade at $43.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.42% to 0.7314, while AUD/JPY fell 0.38% to 89.66.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 98.00.