Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Staples and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.36%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST), which rose 4.36% or 0.50 points to trade at 11.98 at the close. Meanwhile, Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) added 4.17% or 0.02 points to end at 0.38 and ARB Corporation Ltd (ASX:ARB) was up 4.09% or 1.20 points to 30.53 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL), which fell 7.84% or 1.16 points to trade at 13.63 at the close. Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) declined 7.29% or 0.07 points to end at 0.89 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) was down 5.39% or 0.22 points to 3.86.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 721 to 452 and 365 ended unchanged.
Shares in Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) fell to 5-year lows; down 7.29% or 0.07 to 0.89.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 10.16% to 13.55.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.28% or 5.45 to $1,962.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.31% or 0.27 to hit $87.00 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.51% or 0.47 to trade at $91.03 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.54% to 0.63, while AUD/JPY fell 0.65% to 94.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 106.37.