Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Utilities and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.12%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Iress Ltd (AX:IRE), which rose 7.64% or 0.850 points to trade at 11.980 at the close. Meanwhile, Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) added 5.56% or 0.275 points to end at 5.225 and Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) was up 5.52% or 0.090 points to 1.720 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Primary Health Care Ltd (AX:PRY), which fell 8.55% or 0.330 points to trade at 3.530 at the close. APA Group (AX:APA) declined 3.60% or 0.360 points to end at 9.630 and Cochlear Ltd (AX:COH) was down 3.54% or 7.01 points to 191.20.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 606 to 589 and 439 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.56% to 11.491.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.12% or 1.50 to $1302.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.17% or 0.11 to hit $66.53 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.39% or 0.30 to trade at $76.44 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.37% to 0.7552, while AUD/JPY fell 0.61% to 83.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 93.49.