Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Utilities and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.10%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cochlear Ltd (AX:COH), which rose 7.19% or 10.27 points to trade at 153.05 at the close. Meanwhile, Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) added 6.45% or 0.200 points to end at 3.300 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 5.75% or 0.130 points to 2.390 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS), which fell 9.93% or 0.430 points to trade at 3.900 at the close. Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (AX:QBE) declined 7.74% or 0.930 points to end at 11.090 and Iress Ltd (AX:IRE) was down 5.83% or 0.765 points to 12.355.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 637 to 514 and 345 ended unchanged.
Shares in Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS) fell to 3-years lows; falling 9.93% or 0.430 to 3.900.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.26% to 13.134.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.74% or 9.50 to $1292.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $46.81 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.14 to trade at $50.41 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7937, while AUD/JPY fell 0.16% to 87.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 93.31.