Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.20% to hit a new 1-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA), which rose 5.97% or 0.44 points to trade at 7.81 at the close. Meanwhile, Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) added 4.68% or 0.17 points to end at 3.80 and Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) was up 4.36% or 2.20 points to 52.71 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN), which fell 6.30% or 0.36 points to trade at 5.35 at the close. Reece Ltd (ASX:REH) declined 4.75% or 0.95 points to end at 19.06 and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) was down 4.56% or 4.91 points to 102.75.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 748 to 693 and 406 ended unchanged.
Shares in Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) rose to all time highs; rising 5.97% or 0.44 to 7.81.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.62% to 12.10 a new 1-month low.
Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.28% or 5.50 to $1,928.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 4.47% or 4.82 to hit $103.00 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 3.54% or 3.94 to trade at $107.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.46% to 0.75, while AUD/JPY fell 0.58% to 90.93.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 97.88.