Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.65%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL), which rose 8.05% or 0.190 points to trade at 2.550 at the close. Meanwhile, Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) added 6.93% or 0.035 points to end at 0.540 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was up 5.57% or 0.095 points to 1.800 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU), which fell 4.92% or 0.450 points to trade at 8.700 at the close. Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) declined 4.51% or 0.180 points to end at 3.810 and Collins Foods Ltd (ASX:CKF) was down 4.36% or 0.50 points to 10.97.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 898 to 533 and 291 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 8.12% to 11.246.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.27% or 4.75 to $1776.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.76% or 0.56 to hit $74.03 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.70% or 0.52 to trade at $75.14 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.01% to 0.7498, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 83.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 92.418.