Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.83% to hit a new 6-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were G8 Education Ltd (AX:GEM), which rose 4.91% or 0.185 points to trade at 3.955 at the close. Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR) added 2.34% or 0.090 points to end at 3.940 and Santos Ltd (AX:STO) was up 2.30% or 0.090 points to 4.010 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which lost 6.48% or 0.244 points to trade at 3.520 in late trade. Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) declined 6.30% or 0.073 points to end at 1.077 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) shed 5.82% or 0.160 points to 2.590.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 723 to 412 and 360 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 12.66% to 13.462.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.10% or 14.44 to $1301.96 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.12% or 0.06 to hit $50.63 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.21% or 0.12 to trade at $56.17 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.75% to 0.7971, while AUD/JPY fell 0.58% to 89.60.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 92.32.