Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, IT and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.94% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ), which rose 6.90% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.240 at the close. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) added 3.43% or 0.070 points to end at 2.110 and Vocus Group Ltd (AX:VOC) was up 3.27% or 0.080 points to 2.530 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Sirtex Medical Ltd (AX:SRX), which lost 28.33% or 4.250 points to trade at 10.750 in late trade. James Hardie Industries PLC (AX:JHX) declined 6.95% or 1.500 points to end at 20.080 and Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY) shed 6.52% or 0.030 points to 0.430.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 762 to 339 and 336 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 8.27% to 13.513.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.03% or 0.41 to $1259.11 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 0.20% or 0.10 to hit $48.97 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.23% or 0.12 to trade at $52.09 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.35% to 0.7456, while AUD/JPY rose 0.69% to 82.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 97.54.