Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Telecoms Services and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.17%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Independence Group NL (AX:IGO), which rose 6.72% or 0.270 points to trade at 4.290 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) added 6.32% or 0.060 points to end at 1.010 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was up 5.34% or 0.150 points to 2.960 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Myer Holdings Ltd (AX:MYR), which lost 9.66% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.655 in late trade. Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG) declined 2.92% or 0.090 points to end at 2.990 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (AX:CCP) shed 2.87% or 0.640 points to 21.660.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 586 to 579 and 361 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 4.93% to 11.426.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.93% or 11.60 to $1260.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.21% or 0.12 to hit $56.72 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.58% or 0.36 to trade at $62.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.35% to 0.7663, while AUD/JPY rose 0.40% to 86.28.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 93.40.