Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qube Holdings Ltd (AX:QUB), which rose 5.08% or 0.120 points to trade at 2.480 at the close. Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) added 4.22% or 0.070 points to end at 1.730 and Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) was up 4.04% or 0.028 points to 0.708 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA), which lost 5.08% or 0.120 points to trade at 2.240 in late trade. BHP Billiton Ltd (AX:BHP) declined 5.03% or 1.270 points to end at 23.960 and South32 Ltd (AX:S32) shed 4.64% or 0.130 points to 2.670.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 605 to 475 and 356 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.40% to 11.176.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.37% or 4.45 to $1204.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.66% or 0.33 to hit $50.61 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.83% or 0.44 to trade at $53.55 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.24% to 0.7510, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 86.01.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 102.22.