Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the A-REITs, Industrials and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.31%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL), which rose 6.99% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.760 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) added 6.88% or 0.055 points to end at 0.855 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 6.74% or 0.180 points to 2.850 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (AX:SOL), which fell 6.16% or 1.580 points to trade at 24.080 at the close. Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) declined 5.41% or 0.170 points to end at 2.970 and Brickworks Ltd (AX:BKW) was down 5.15% or 0.880 points to 16.210.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 608 to 554 and 366 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.97% to 11.711.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.15% or 1.80 to $1210.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.64% or 0.45 to hit $71.22 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.38% or 0.30 to trade at $79.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.04% to 0.7259, while AUD/JPY fell 0.18% to 81.40.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 94.07.