Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, Healthcare and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.69%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which rose 6.35% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.590 at the close. Meanwhile, Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) added 6.33% or 0.025 points to end at 0.420 and Mcmillan Shakespeare Ltd (ASX:MMS) was up 4.35% or 0.39 points to 9.36 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Breville Group Ltd (ASX:BRG), which fell 6.31% or 1.61 points to trade at 23.90 at the close. Avita Therapeutics Inc (ASX:AVH) declined 5.10% or 0.360 points to end at 6.700 and A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) was down 4.34% or 0.86 points to 18.94.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 608 to 586 and 359 ended unchanged.
Shares in Avita Therapeutics Inc (ASX:AVH) fell to 52-week lows; falling 5.10% or 0.360 to 6.700.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 22.18% to 21.872.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.33% or 5.95 to $1807.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.87% or 0.36 to hit $40.84 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.62% or 0.27 to trade at $43.52 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.29% to 0.6986, while AUD/JPY fell 0.24% to 74.73.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 96.157.