Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, IT and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.77% to hit a new 6-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which rose 8.81% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.420 at the close. Meanwhile, Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX:PTM) added 4.66% or 0.11 points to end at 2.47 and AusNet Services Ltd (ASX:AST) was up 4.45% or 0.110 points to 2.580 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN), which fell 12.27% or 0.86 points to trade at 6.15 at the close. Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) declined 11.28% or 0.44 points to end at 3.46 and Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) was down 11.04% or 0.185 points to 1.490.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1051 to 456 and 360 ended unchanged.
Shares in Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) fell to 52-week lows; losing 12.27% or 0.86 to 6.15.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 19.02% to 22.061 a new 52-week high.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.08% or 19.70 to $1810.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.26% or 0.23 to hit $87.12 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.24% or 0.21 to trade at $88.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.58% to 0.7073, while AUD/JPY fell 0.47% to 81.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.36% at 96.743.