Australia stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Healthcare and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.43%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1), which rose 5.12% or 0.69 points to trade at 14.17 at the close. Meanwhile, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 5.16% or 0.21 points to end at 4.28 and Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX:IFL) was up 4.26% or 0.15 points to 3.67 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Reece Ltd (ASX:REH), which fell 18.66% or 3.24 points to trade at 14.12 at the close. APA Group (ASX:APA) declined 4.01% or 0.34 points to end at 8.14 and Growthpoint Properties Australia (ASX:GOZ) was down 3.66% or 0.09 points to 2.37.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 671 to 455 and 533 ended unchanged.

Shares in Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 5.12% or 0.69 to 14.17. Shares in Reece Ltd (ASX:REH) fell to 52-week lows; falling 18.66% or 3.24 to 14.12.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.09% to 11.22.

Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.29% or 43.30 to $3,304.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.57% or 0.37 to hit $65.61 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.57% or 0.38 to trade at $67.07 a barrel

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 94.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 96.94.