Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.39%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:CGC), which rose 8.37% or 0.220 points to trade at 2.850 at the close. Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) added 8.33% or 0.025 points to end at 0.325 and Blackmores Ltd (ASX:BKL) was up 7.13% or 5.76 points to 86.56 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME), which fell 5.46% or 1.540 points to trade at 26.660 at the close. Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) declined 5.23% or 0.170 points to end at 3.080 and Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF) was down 4.52% or 0.280 points to 5.920.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 593 to 561 and 357 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.13% to 12.108.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.22% or 3.25 to $1499.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.24% or 0.13 to hit $55.19 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.17 to trade at $60.41 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.6917, while AUD/JPY rose 0.10% to 75.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.27% at 97.172.