Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, Energy and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 2.42%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Greencross Ltd (ASX:GXL), which rose 2.56% or 0.150 points to trade at 6.020 at the close. Meanwhile, Japara Fpo (ASX:JHC) added 2.18% or 0.060 points to end at 2.810 and Metcash Ltd (ASX:MTS) was up 1.40% or 0.015 points to 1.085 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which fell 13.03% or 0.310 points to trade at 2.070 at the close. Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR) declined 8.51% or 0.160 points to end at 1.720 and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) was down 6.90% or 0.010 points to 0.135.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 602 to 335 and 164 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 14.57% to 26.332.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.30% or 3.30 to $1105.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.15% or 0.07 to hit $44.09 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.53% or 0.25 to trade at $47.33 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.7024, while AUD/JPY rose 0.27% to 84.78.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.02% at 95.98.