Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Real Estate Investment and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.40% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Medibank Private Ltd (ASX:MPL), which rose 13.43% or 0.270 points to trade at 2.280 at the close. UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) added 12.27% or 0.200 points to end at 1.830 and Sims Metal Management Ltd (ASX:SGM) was up 11.19% or 1.050 points to 10.430 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE), which lost 9.22% or 0.100 points to trade at 0.985 in late trade. Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) declined 8.70% or 0.010 points to end at 0.105 and Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) shed 5.95% or 1.180 points to 18.650.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 649 to 362 and 157 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 up 6.49% to 20.962 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.44% or 5.10 to $1158.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.99% or 0.41 to hit $40.91 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.78% or 0.36 to trade at $46.26 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.45% to 0.7303, while AUD/JPY fell 0.84% to 89.78.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.34% at 95.45.