Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the A-REITs, Utilities and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.06% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 10.64% or 0.125 points to trade at 1.300 at the close. Meanwhile, M Pharma Fp (AX:MYX) added 7.91% or 0.125 points to end at 1.705 and Nine Ent Fpo (AX:NEC) was up 5.88% or 0.050 points to 0.900 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Boral Ltd. (AX:BLD), which fell 5.37% or 0.330 points to trade at 5.820 at the close. Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) declined 4.94% or 0.040 points to end at 0.770 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) was down 4.29% or 0.120 points to 2.680.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 579 to 440 and 293 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.02% to 18.918 a new 3-months high.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.28% or 3.60 to $1304.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.99% or 0.45 to hit $45.79 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.26% or 0.59 to trade at $47.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7667, while AUD/JPY fell 0.38% to 78.83.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 97.22.