Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, A-REITs and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.37%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Xero Ltd (AX:XRO), which rose 8.77% or 3.510 points to trade at 43.530 at the close. Meanwhile, Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) added 7.31% or 0.160 points to end at 2.350 and Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) was up 7.03% or 0.110 points to 1.675 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which fell 10.06% or 0.175 points to trade at 1.565 at the close. Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) declined 4.24% or 0.100 points to end at 2.260 and Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX:ALG) was down 3.90% or 0.055 points to 1.355.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 625 to 554 and 351 ended unchanged.
Shares in Ardent Leisure Ltd (AX:ALG) fell to 5-year lows; down 3.90% or 0.055 to 1.355.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.45% to 14.052.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.70% or 9.15 to $1319.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.70% or 0.38 to hit $54.61 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.91% or 0.56 to trade at $62.10 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.7267, while AUD/JPY rose 0.03% to 79.02.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 94.950.