Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.32%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.32%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Blackmores Ltd (ASX:BKL), which rose 22.75% or 17.47 points to trade at 94.26 at the close. Meanwhile, Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) added 11.66% or 0.45 points to end at 4.31 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was up 8.20% or 0.13 points to 1.65 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Adbri Ltd (ASX:ABC), which fell 6.12% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.53 at the close. United Malt Group Ltd (ASX:UMG) declined 4.73% or 0.22 points to end at 4.43 and Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) was down 4.33% or 0.18 points to 3.98.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 694 to 571 and 411 ended unchanged.

Shares in Blackmores Ltd (ASX:BKL) rose to 52-week highs; rising 22.75% or 17.47 to 94.26.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.45% to 11.93 a new 1-month low.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.67% or 13.45 to $2,009.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.30% or 0.22 to hit $74.52 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.42% or 0.33 to trade at $78.05 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.35% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY rose 0.39% to 88.54.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 101.14.