Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold, Utilities and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.82% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Covermore Fpo (ASX:CVO), which rose 6.10% or 0.130 points to trade at 2.260 at the close. Sirius Resources NL (ASX:SIR) added 3.64% or 0.100 points to end at 2.850 and UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) was up 2.91% or 0.055 points to 1.945 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Karoon Gas Australia Ltd (ASX:KAR), which lost 5.30% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.680 in late trade. AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) declined 5.10% or 0.080 points to end at 1.490 and M2 Telecommunications Group Ltd (ASX:MTU) shed 4.95% or 0.550 points to 10.550.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 614 to 367 and 167 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 2.25% to 19.692 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.64% or 7.60 to $1182.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.34% or 0.20 to hit $60.73 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.36% or 0.24 to trade at $67.53 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.05% to 0.7967, while AUD/JPY rose 0.00% to 95.21.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.11% at 94.30.