Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN), which rose 8.00% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.080 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 4.29% or 0.090 points to end at 2.190 and Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) was up 4.00% or 0.005 points to 0.130 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which lost 6.91% or 0.270 points to trade at 3.640 in late trade. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) declined 6.00% or 0.105 points to end at 1.645 and Transfield Services Ltd (ASX:TSE) shed 3.99% or 0.055 points to 1.325.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 498 to 464 and 162 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 5.49% to 15.917.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.31% or 3.40 to $1094.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.14% or 0.07 to hit $49.26 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.07 to trade at $56.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.14% to 0.7365, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 91.34.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 97.57.