Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, A-REITs and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.58%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Aveo Group (AX:AOG), which rose 4.29% or 0.070 points to trade at 1.700 at the close. Meanwhile, St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 4.23% or 0.180 points to end at 4.440 and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (AX:APT) was up 3.97% or 0.550 points to 14.420 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd (AX:CCL), which fell 14.75% or 1.490 points to trade at 8.610 at the close. Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (AX:ALL) declined 6.33% or 1.610 points to end at 23.830 and Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) was down 5.79% or 0.090 points to 1.465.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 652 to 507 and 351 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.60% to 17.264.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.04% or 0.50 to $1229.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $51.48 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.25% or 0.15 to trade at $60.06 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.07% to 0.7314, while AUD/JPY fell 0.14% to 82.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.00% at 96.697.
