Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Metals & Mining and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 2.83% to hit a new 52-week low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Lynas Corporation Ltd (AX:LYC), which rose 7.26% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.700 at the close. Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY) added 5.04% or 0.085 points to end at 1.770 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG) was up 3.41% or 0.035 points to 1.060 in late trade.
Biggest losers included AMP Ltd (AX:AMP), which lost 23.56% or 0.780 points to trade at 2.530 in late trade. Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) declined 12.12% or 0.040 points to end at 0.290 and Super Retail Group Ltd (AX:SUL) shed 10.20% or 0.850 points to 7.480.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1067 to 215 and 283 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 27.26% to 22.280 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.76% or 9.40 to $1240.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.73% or 0.49 to hit $66.33 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.66% or 0.50 to trade at $75.67 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7074, while AUD/JPY fell 0.08% to 79.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.33% at 96.03.