Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 2.81%

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 fell 2.81% to hit a new 6-months low.

The best performers of the session on the were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (ASX:), which rose 5.93% or 0.24 points to trade at 4.29 at the close. Meanwhile, Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:) added 5.09% or 0.070 points to end at 1.445 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:) was up 5.08% or 0.86 points to 17.78 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were oOh!Media Ltd (ASX:), which fell 11.15% or 0.30 points to trade at 2.39 at the close. Avita Medical (ASX:) declined 11.02% or 0.070 points to end at 0.565 and Virgin Money UK PLC (ASX:) was down 10.07% or 0.28 points to 2.50.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1016 to 236 and 249 ended unchanged.

Shares in oOh!Media Ltd (ASX:) fell to 3-years lows; losing 11.15% or 0.30 to 2.39.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 20.47% to 26.687 a new 3-years high.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.40% or 6.75 to $1674.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.83% or 0.38 to hit $45.52 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.84% or 0.42 to trade at $49.57 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.02% to 0.6612, while AUD/JPY fell 0.23% to 70.05.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 96.590.

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