Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.16%

© Reuters. Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.16%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, Materials and Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.16%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Healthscope (AX:HSO), which rose 15.27% or 0.310 points to trade at 2.340 at the close. Meanwhile, Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) added 6.99% or 0.050 points to end at 0.765 and Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX:API) was up 6.28% or 0.078 points to 1.312 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Boral Ltd. (AX:BLD), which fell 5.23% or 0.360 points to trade at 6.520 at the close. Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (AX:BOQ) declined 4.99% or 0.525 points to end at 9.995 and Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX:MYX) was down 4.41% or 0.030 points to 0.650.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 685 to 557 and 376 ended unchanged.

Shares in Healthscope (AX:HSO) rose to 52-week highs; rising 15.27% or 0.310 to 2.340. Shares in Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (AX:BOQ) fell to 52-week lows; falling 4.99% or 0.525 to 9.995.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.62% to 12.297.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.20% or 2.70 to $1325.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.41% or 0.28 to hit $68.33 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.44 to trade at $74.44 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.11% to 0.7572, while AUD/JPY rose 0.04% to 82.81.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 90.96.