Australian shares fall at the close; The S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.10% by Investing.com

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the , and sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, it was down 0.10%.

The best performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (ASX: ), which rose 10.00% or 0.04 points to trade at 0.38 at the close. Meanwhile, Austal Ltd (ASX: ) added 9.85% or 0.27 points to end at 3.01 and Appen Ltd (ASX: ) was up 6.90% or 0.14 points to trade at 2.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ), which fell 2.67% or 0.08 points to trade at 2.92 at the close. Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:) declined 2.21% or 0.02 points to end at 0.67 and Steadfast Group Ltd (ASX:) declined 1.98% or 0.11 points to 5.45.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 517 to 501, with 403 ending unchanged.

Shares in St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 10.00% or 0.04 to 0.38. Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:) rose to 52-week highs; up 6.90% or 0.14 to 2.17.

which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, rose 3.43% to 11.97.

Gold futures for December delivery rose 1.36%, or 35.70, to $2,661.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodity trading, crude for November delivery rose 3.30%, or 2.42, to $75.66 a barrel, while the December Brent crude contract rose 3.34% or 2.56, to 79.14 dollars per barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.01% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 100.20.

US dollar index futures were down 0.01% at 102.69.