Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.55%

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

At the close in Sydney, the fell 0.55%.

The best performers of the session on the were Breville Group Ltd (ASX:), which rose 3.58% or 0.82 points to trade at 23.75 at the close. Meanwhile, Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:) added 2.58% or 0.09 points to end at 3.58 and Perpetual Ltd (ASX:) was up 1.85% or 0.39 points to 21.45 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:), which fell 5.09% or 0.19 points to trade at 3.54 at the close. Healius Ltd (ASX:) declined 4.59% or 0.09 points to end at 1.76 and Appen Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.50% or 0.05 points to 0.95.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 671 to 489 and 362 ended unchanged.

Shares in Healius Ltd (ASX:) fell to 5-year lows; down 4.59% or 0.09 to 1.76.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 7.78% to 12.46.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.39% or 7.75 to $1,962.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.40% or 0.30 to hit $76.04 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.49% or 0.39 to trade at $80.40 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 96.25.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 105.77.