Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.10%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Materials, Metals & Mining and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.10%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which rose 10.00% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.38 at the close. Meanwhile, Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) added 9.85% or 0.27 points to end at 3.01 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 6.90% or 0.14 points to 2.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP), which fell 2.67% or 0.08 points to trade at 2.92 at the close. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) declined 2.21% or 0.02 points to end at 0.67 and Steadfast Group Ltd (ASX:SDF) was down 1.98% or 0.11 points to 5.45.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 517 to 501 and 403 ended unchanged.

Shares in St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 10.00% or 0.04 to 0.38. Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) rose to 52-week highs; rising 6.90% or 0.14 to 2.17.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.43% to 11.97.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.36% or 35.70 to $2,661.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 3.30% or 2.42 to hit $75.66 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 3.34% or 2.56 to trade at $79.14 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.01% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 100.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 102.69.