Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S & P / ASX 200 down 1.76% By Investing.com

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 declined 1.76% to hit a new 52-week low.

The best performers of the session on the were EML Payments Ltd (ASX :), which rose 9.43% or 0.13 points to trade at 1.45 at the close. Meanwhile, Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX 🙂 added 8.08% or 1.49 points to end at 19.92 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX 🙂 was up 7.29% or 0.09 points to 1.33 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were GUD Holdings Ltd (ASX :), which fell 19.56% or 1.88 points to trade at 7.73 at the close. Hub24 Ltd (ASX 🙂 declined 7.46% or 1.45 points to end at 18.00 and Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX 🙂 was down 6.58% or 0.25 points to 3.55.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1000 to 471 and 367 ended unchanged.

Shares in GUD Holdings Ltd (ASX 🙂 fell to 52-week lows; losing 19.56% or 1.88 to 7.73. Shares in Hub24 Ltd (ASX 🙂 fell to 52-week lows; down 7.46% or 1.45 to 18.00. Shares in Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX 🙂 fell to 52-week lows; falling 6.58% or 0.25 to 3.55.

The, which measures the implied volatility of S & P / ASX 200 options, was up 10.47% to 23.65 a new 52-week high.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.10% or 1.80 to $ 1,851.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.61% or 0.72 to hit $ 118.31 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.58% or 0.69 to trade at $ 120.50 a barrel.

AUD / USD was down 0.75% to 0.70, while AUD / JPY rose 0.69% to 93.79.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.59% at 104.03.