Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.77%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which rose 7.25% or 0.330 points to trade at 4.880 at the close. Meanwhile, Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) added 3.04% or 0.110 points to end at 3.730 and Westfield Corporation (AX:WFD) was up 2.64% or 0.240 points to 9.320 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which fell 11.37% or 1.315 points to trade at 10.255 at the close. Bluescope Steel Ltd (AX:BSL) declined 7.69% or 0.950 points to end at 11.400 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX:WHC) was down 6.88% or 0.220 points to 2.980.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 667 to 458 and 357 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.24% to 12.981 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.67% or 8.55 to $1286.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $53.05 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.02 to trade at $55.84 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.86% to 0.7588, while AUD/JPY rose 0.87% to 82.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 100.01.