Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.28%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the A-REITs, Telecoms Services and Industrials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.28%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which rose 9.88% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.34 at the close. Meanwhile, IPH Ltd (ASX:IPH) added 4.03% or 0.19 points to end at 4.91 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) was up 3.96% or 0.09 points to 2.36 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Downer Edi Ltd (ASX:DOW), which fell 5.95% or 0.34 points to trade at 5.37 at the close. AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) declined 5.70% or 0.69 points to end at 11.42 and Domino’S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) was down 3.93% or 1.20 points to 29.32.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 629 to 442 and 452 ended unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.15% to 10.23.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.29% or 7.90 to $2,748.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.21% or 0.15 to hit $70.44 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.34% or 0.25 to trade at $73.77 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.77% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY rose 0.74% to 97.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 106.26.