CANBERRA: Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Gold, Financials and Industrials sectors led shares lower. At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.22%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL), which rose 9.89% or 13.62 points to trade at 151.32 at the close. Meanwhile, Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF) added 8.03% or 0.683 points to end at 9.190 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) was up 5.58% or 0.250 points to 4.730 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which fell 6.04% or 0.090 points to trade at 1.400 at the close. Qantas Airways Ltd (AX:QAN) declined 5.55% or 0.35 points to end at 5.96 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was down 4.00% or 0.120 points to 2.880. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 631 to 574 and 367 ended unchanged. Shares in Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL) rose to 52-week highs; rising 9.89% or 13.62 to 151.32. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.19% to 11.232. Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.10% or 1.26 to $1268.34 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.09% or 0.05 to hit $52.59 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.07% or 0.04 to trade at $59.34 a barrel. AUD/USD was down 0.25% to 0.7641, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 87.25. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 94.68.
