Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.87%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, A-REITs and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.87%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT), which rose 4.63% or 0.91 points to trade at 20.56 at the close. Meanwhile, Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) added 4.36% or 0.13 points to end at 3.11 and Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL) was up 2.60% or 0.35 points to 13.82 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT), which fell 19.94% or 4.31 points to trade at 17.31 at the close. Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (ASX:CTD) declined 9.35% or 1.17 points to end at 11.35 and Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) was down 7.55% or 0.08 points to 0.98.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 629 to 439 and 395 ended unchanged.

Shares in Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) fell to 52-week lows; losing 19.94% or 4.31 to 17.31. Shares in Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) rose to all time highs; up 4.36% or 0.13 to 3.11.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.48% to 12.38.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.69% or 18.80 to $2,726.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.58% or 0.41 to hit $71.08 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.44% or 0.33 to trade at $74.78 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.07% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.21% to 100.38.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 103.51.