Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the IT, Telecoms Services and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.48%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE), which rose 3.16% or 0.330 points to trade at 10.780 at the close. Meanwhile, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) added 2.13% or 1.040 points to end at 49.800 and Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX:IAG) was up 1.98% or 0.100 points to 5.140 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA), which fell 23.31% or 0.550 points to trade at 1.810 at the close. Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) declined 21.10% or 3.11 points to end at 11.63 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was down 7.50% or 0.85 points to 10.48.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 805 to 564 and 388 ended unchanged.
Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell to 52-week lows; down 21.10% or 3.11 to 11.63.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.85% to 12.492.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.51% or 9.15 to $1793.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.43% or 0.28 to hit $65.91 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.54% or 0.37 to trade at $69.33 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.02% to 0.7749, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 84.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 91.138.