Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Healthcare and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.34%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX:ALG), which rose 3.88% or 0.045 points to trade at 1.205 at the close. Meanwhile, Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) added 3.40% or 0.018 points to end at 0.532 and Speedcast International Ltd (AX:SDA) was up 3.32% or 0.120 points to 3.730 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which fell 4.58% or 0.165 points to trade at 3.435 at the close. Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) declined 4.69% or 0.073 points to end at 1.472 and Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (AX:BOQ) was down 4.68% or 0.440 points to 8.970.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 608 to 487 and 391 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.23% to 11.331.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.18% or 2.35 to $1311.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.46% or 0.30 to hit $64.31 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.25 to trade at $71.48 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.12% to 0.7161, while AUD/JPY fell 0.05% to 79.55.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 96.523.