Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE), which rose 13.68% or 0.390 points to trade at 3.240 at the close. Invocare Ltd (AX:IVC) added 8.65% or 1.130 points to end at 14.190 and Crown Ltd (AX:CWN) was up 8.43% or 0.960 points to 12.350 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which lost 21.76% or 0.470 points to trade at 1.690 in late trade. Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX:SKT) declined 12.59% or 0.510 points to end at 3.540 and Isentia Group Ltd (AX:ISD) shed 7.24% or 0.130 points to 1.665.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 611 to 508 and 314 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 0.45% to 11.181.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.43% or 5.25 to $1238.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.93% or 0.50 to hit $54.09 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.91% or 0.51 to trade at $56.35 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.01% to 0.7702, while AUD/JPY fell 0.22% to 87.09.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 101.20.