Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Metals & Mining and IT sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.33%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR), which rose 11.15% or 0.150 points to trade at 1.495 at the close. Meanwhile, Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX:TWE) added 5.26% or 0.650 points to end at 13.000 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was up 3.53% or 0.090 points to 2.640 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA), which fell 29.84% or 0.725 points to trade at 1.705 at the close. Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) declined 11.94% or 0.040 points to end at 0.295 and Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) was down 7.25% or 0.050 points to 0.640.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 732 to 455 and 325 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA) fell to 52-week lows; losing 29.84% or 0.725 to 1.705.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.50% to 13.980.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.46% or 7.15 to $1577.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.05% or 0.56 to hit $52.77 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.14% or 0.67 to trade at $58.24 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.23% to 0.6737, while AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 73.39.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 97.885.