Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, IT and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.67%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT), which rose 5.82% or 1.98 points to trade at 36.02 at the close. Meanwhile, Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) added 3.62% or 0.87 points to end at 24.89 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) was up 3.26% or 0.710 points to 22.510 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 12.43% or 3.72 points to trade at 26.20 at the close. Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) declined 8.45% or 0.150 points to end at 1.625 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (ASX:SAR) was down 5.75% or 0.28 points to 4.59.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 858 to 423 and 345 ended unchanged.
Shares in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) rose to all time highs; rising 3.26% or 0.710 to 22.510.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.36% to 13.460.
Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.10% or 1.85 to $1840.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.15% or 0.07 to hit $45.59 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.06% or 0.03 to trade at $48.89 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.32% to 0.7469, while AUD/JPY rose 0.59% to 78.04.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.02% at 91.065.