Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecommunication Services, Australian Real Estate Investment Trust and Information Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.61%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Ent Fpo (ASX:NEC), which rose 9.43% or 0.17 points to trade at 2.03 at the close. Meanwhile, Adelaide Brighton Ltd (ASX:ABC) added 7.46% or 0.290 points to end at 4.180 and Japara Fpo (ASX:JHC) was up 7.32% or 0.18 points to 2.64 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE), which fell 6.42% or 0.105 points to trade at 1.530 at the close. Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) declined 6.29% or 0.105 points to end at 1.565 and Atlas Iron Ltd (ASX:AGO) was down 5.00% or 0.010 points to 0.190.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 313 to 283 and 29 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.95% to 13.722.
Gold for April delivery was up 0.72% or 8.60 to $1210.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 0.70% or 0.35 to hit $50.63 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 0.80% or 0.49 to trade at $61.43 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.47% to 0.7850, while AUD/JPY fell 0.38% to 93.38.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.01% at 94.23.