Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Energy, Consumer Discretionary and IT sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.28%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL), which rose 4.66% or 0.26 points to trade at 5.84 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) added 3.18% or 0.30 points to end at 9.72 and Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd (ASX:SYD) was up 2.87% or 0.240 points to 8.590 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG), which fell 4.88% or 1.48 points to trade at 28.87 at the close. Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) declined 4.16% or 0.22 points to end at 5.07 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was down 3.95% or 0.050 points to 1.215.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 690 to 655 and 407 ended unchanged.
Shares in Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) fell to 52-week lows; losing 4.88% or 1.48 to 28.87. Shares in Sydney Airport Holdings Ltd (ASX:SYD) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 2.87% or 0.240 to 8.590.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 14.26% to 11.987.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.06% or 1.15 to $1786.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.66% or 0.48 to hit $72.84 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.53% or 0.40 to trade at $76.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.06% to 0.7175, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 81.46.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 96.037.