Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the A-REITs, Industrials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.25%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which rose 33.54% or 0.545 points to trade at 2.170 at the close. Meanwhile, Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (AX:CTD) added 5.16% or 1.040 points to end at 21.200 and Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) was up 4.56% or 0.660 points to 15.140 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which fell 3.73% or 0.170 points to trade at 4.390 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) declined 3.57% or 0.043 points to end at 1.147 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) was down 3.04% or 0.090 points to 2.870.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 663 to 536 and 379 ended unchanged.
Shares in Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) rose to 5-year highs; rising 4.56% or 0.660 to 15.140.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.92% to 10.211 a new 6-months low.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.10% or 1.30 to $1270.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.10% or 0.06 to hit $58.03 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.19% or 0.12 to trade at $64.44 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.7658, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 86.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 93.00.