Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, Gold and Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.59%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS), which rose 9.09% or 0.055 points to trade at 0.660 at the close. Meanwhile, Nearmap Ltd (AX:NEA) added 5.57% or 0.200 points to end at 3.790 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) was up 5.49% or 0.180 points to 3.460 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Pendal Group Ltd (AX:PDL), which fell 12.99% or 1.200 points to trade at 8.040 at the close. Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL) declined 8.36% or 0.140 points to end at 1.535 and Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) was down 5.20% or 0.340 points to 6.200.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 668 to 490 and 371 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nearmap Ltd (AX:NEA) rose to all time highs; gaining 5.57% or 0.200 to 3.790.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.19% to 12.096.
Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.91% or 11.75 to $1272.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.41% or 0.26 to hit $63.34 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.44% or 0.32 to trade at $71.86 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.11% to 0.7021, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 78.31.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 97.387.