Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Real Estate Investment and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.69% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which rose 6.39% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.165 at the close. Healthscope (AX:HSO) added 6.31% or 0.130 points to end at 2.190 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) was up 3.73% or 0.320 points to 8.910 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which lost 10.98% or 0.370 points to trade at 3.000 in late trade. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) declined 8.66% or 0.055 points to end at 0.580 and Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) shed 8.11% or 0.270 points to 3.060.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 746 to 401 and 337 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 1.17% to 20.351.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.41% or 5.20 to $1262.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.85% or 0.39 to hit $46.27 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.70% or 0.38 to trade at $54.73 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.03% to 0.7109, while AUD/JPY rose 0.16% to 79.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 95.955.