Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the A-REITs, Consumer Staples and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.45%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Transpacific Industries Group Ltd (AX:TPI), which rose 6.76% or 0.050 points to trade at 0.790 at the close. Meanwhile, Syrah Res F (AX:SYR) added 4.84% or 0.180 points to end at 3.900 and Austal Ltd (AX:ASB) was up 4.67% or 0.070 points to 1.570 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN), which fell 4.47% or 0.065 points to trade at 1.390 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) declined 4.25% or 0.250 points to end at 5.630 and Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH) was down 4.07% or 0.035 points to 0.825.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 436 to 433 and 149 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.30% to 16.310.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.18% or 1.90 to $1061.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.19% or 0.07 to hit $36.67 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.20% or 0.07 to trade at $36.65 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.7302, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 87.94.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 98.28.