Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, IT and Gold sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.23% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS), which rose 3.31% or 0.100 points to trade at 3.120 at the close. Meanwhile, Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) added 2.52% or 0.170 points to end at 6.920 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was up 2.50% or 0.090 points to 3.690 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG), which fell 11.57% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.535 at the close. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 8.50% or 0.175 points to end at 1.885 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) was down 7.42% or 0.058 points to 0.718.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 858 to 373 and 330 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 16.62% to 14.830 a new 3-months high.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.30 to $1201.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.20% or 0.14 to hit $68.58 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.05 to trade at $77.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.33% to 0.7169, while AUD/JPY fell 0.49% to 79.82.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 95.13.