Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.20%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold , Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.20% to hit a new 1-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX: SRX ), which rose 8.56% or 0.920 points to trade at 11.670 at the close. Syrah Resources Ltd (AX: SYR ) added 6.56% or 0.160 points to end at 2.600 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX: BAL ) was up 5.76% or 0.300 points to 5.510 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX: SXL ), which lost 5.43% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.220 in late trade. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX: NST ) declined 4.75% or 0.220 points to end at 4.410 and G.U.D. Holdings Ltd (AX: GUD ) shed 4.46% or 0.550 points to 11.790.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 546 to 528 and 362 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 2.49% to 13.077.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.25% or 3.11 to $1249.69 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.93% or 0.46 to hit $49.81 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.43 to trade at $52.94 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.12% to 0.7427, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 82.73.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 97.68.