Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, IT and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR), which rose 4.76% or 0.030 points to trade at 0.660 at the close. Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG) added 4.22% or 0.100 points to end at 2.470 and IPH Ltd (AX:IPH) was up 2.80% or 0.150 points to 5.500 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 3.98% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.690 in late trade. G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (AX:GUD) declined 3.10% or 0.390 points to end at 12.190 and Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA) shed 3.08% or 0.230 points to 7.230.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 587 to 565 and 398 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.02% to 10.139.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.07% or 0.90 to $1298.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.77% or 0.46 to hit $60.30 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.70% or 0.46 to trade at $66.62 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7797, while AUD/JPY fell 0.16% to 87.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 92.31.