Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, IT and Gold sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.24% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Telstra Corporation Ltd. (AX:TLS), which rose 3.31% or 0.100 points to trade at 3.120 at the close. Sandfire Resources NL (AX:SFR) added 2.52% or 0.170 points to end at 6.920 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AX:FMG) was up 2.50% or 0.090 points to 3.690 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG), which lost 11.57% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.535 in late trade. Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC) declined 8.50% or 0.175 points to end at 1.885 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX:PLS) shed 7.42% or 0.058 points to 0.718.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 857 to 371 and 333 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 16.62% to 14.830 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1201.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.20% or 0.14 to hit $68.58 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.06% or 0.05 to trade at $77.22 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.32% to 0.7170, while AUD/JPY fell 0.49% to 79.82.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 95.12.