Australian shares ended the trading day in Sydney lower on Friday, with sector losses in IT, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary nudging the market into the red. At the close, the S&P/ASX 200 registered a 0.05% decline.
Certain individual stocks delivered notable moves. Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:TLX) was the session's top performer, jumping 14.46% - a rise of 1.32 points - to finish at 10.45. Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) also advanced, adding 7.13% or 1.43 points to end at 21.49. Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) gained 5.70%, up 0.34 points to close at 6.31.
On the downside, Guzman Y Gomez Ltd (ASX:GYG) led losses, plunging 13.11% or 2.67 points to close at 17.70. The move pushed Guzman Y Gomez shares to all time lows. Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) retreated 10.79% - down 1.18 points to 9.76 - while Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX:LTR) fell 6.07%, a decline of 0.11 points to 1.63.
Market breadth in Sydney skewed negative, with 655 stocks falling compared with 475 advancers and 394 unchanged at the close.
Measures of expected market volatility ticked up: the S&P/ASX 200 VIX rose 1.51% to 11.82, indicating a modest increase in implied volatility for ASX 200 options.
Commodities settled mixed. Gold Futures for April delivery rose 0.44% or 21.89 to $5,019.29 a troy ounce. In energy markets, crude oil for April delivery climbed 0.62% or 0.41 to $66.81 a barrel, while the April Brent contract increased 0.56% or 0.40 to trade at $72.06 a barrel.
In currency markets, AUD/USD was essentially unchanged, listed as 0.20% to 0.70, while AUD/JPY slipped 0.14% to 109.25. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 97.92.
Looking at the session as a whole, gains in a handful of midcaps and insurance names were not enough to offset broader sector weakness across technology and consumer stocks, leaving the benchmark marginally lower at the close in Sydney.