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

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 lost 0.20%.

The best performers of the session on the were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:), which rose 6.67% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.12 at the close. Meanwhile, Iress Ltd (ASX:) added 4.27% or 0.30 points to end at 7.33 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.00% or 0.03 points to 0.78 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:), which fell 5.31% or 0.23 points to trade at 4.10 at the close. Appen Ltd (ASX:) declined 4.80% or 0.03 points to end at 0.59 and Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.52% or 0.07 points to 1.48.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 617 to 561 and 373 ended unchanged.

Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:) fell to 5-year lows; down 4.80% or 0.03 to 0.59. Shares in Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:) fell to 5-year lows; losing 4.52% or 0.07 to 1.48.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.24% to 9.69.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.15% or 3.10 to $2,041.20 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.13% or 0.10 to hit $76.06 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.07 to trade at $80.79 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 97.87.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 103.28.