Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, IT and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.00%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 4.00% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.52 at the close. Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) added 3.44% or 0.06 points to end at 1.80 and Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was up 3.13% or 0.02 points to 0.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM), which lost 6.98% or 0.02 points to trade at 0.20 in late trade. Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) declined 4.65% or 15.38 points to end at 315.38 and Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL) shed 4.50% or 0.70 points to 14.87.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 614 to 560 and 467 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 down 4.28% to 10.30 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.65% or 15.15 to $2,357.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.10% or 0.08 to hit $80.56 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.08 to trade at $85.15 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.03% to 105.46.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 104.95.