Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.50%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Energy, IT and Resources sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.50%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG), which rose 34.77% or 2.02 points to trade at 7.83 at the close. Meanwhile, Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) added 14.82% or 4.31 points to end at 33.40 and News Corp B DRC (ASX:NWS) was up 8.72% or 2.01 points to 25.05 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL), which fell 10.93% or 0.48 points to trade at 3.91 at the close. Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) declined 10.85% or 7.88 points to end at 64.74 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was down 5.24% or 0.10 points to 1.81.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 740 to 504 and 414 ended unchanged.

Shares in Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) rose to 52-week highs; rising 34.77% or 2.02 to 7.83. Shares in Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) fell to 52-week lows; down 10.85% or 7.88 to 64.74.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.49% to 16.40.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.25% or 4.35 to $1,709.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.41% or 0.35 to hit $85.48 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.27% or 0.25 to trade at $92.40 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.47% to 0.64, while AUD/JPY fell 0.54% to 93.65.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 110.35.