Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.13%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mantra Group Ltd (AX:MTR), which rose 6.38% or 0.270 points to trade at 4.500 at the close. Meanwhile, Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (AX:SKC) added 4.17% or 0.180 points to end at 4.500 and Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) was up 4.14% or 0.240 points to 6.040 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM), which fell 8.22% or 0.180 points to trade at 2.010 at the close. Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT) declined 7.41% or 0.050 points to end at 0.625 and Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (AX:BEN) was down 6.05% or 0.580 points to 9.000.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 477 to 421 and 279 ended unchanged.
Shares in Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (AX:SKC) rose to 3-years highs; gaining 4.17% or 0.180 to 4.500. Shares in Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) rose to all time highs; up 4.14% or 0.240 to 6.040.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 4.18% to 15.371.
Gold for April delivery was down 0.71% or 8.70 to $1215.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.21% or 0.48 to hit $39.31 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.77% or 0.31 to trade at $40.16 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.58% to 0.7489, while AUD/JPY fell 0.15% to 84.50.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.20% at 96.25.