Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Energy, Utilities and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.57% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 7.59% or 0.03 points to trade at 0.43 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) added 4.35% or 0.01 points to end at 0.24 and Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) was up 4.59% or 12.08 points to 275.38 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which lost 9.03% or 0.13 points to trade at 1.31 in late trade. Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) declined 8.33% or 0.20 points to end at 2.20 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) shed 7.52% or 0.98 points to 12.05.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 580 to 482 and 451 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 2.49% to 12.96 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.05% or 1.39 to $2,927.39 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.54% or 0.36 to hit $66.67 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.55% or 0.38 to trade at $69.68 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 0.63, while AUD/JPY rose 0.17% to 94.52.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 104.21.