Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.62%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals&Mining, Resources and Materials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.62%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP), which rose 6.47% or 0.06 points to trade at 0.90 at the close. Meanwhile, Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) added 4.34% or 0.20 points to end at 4.81 and Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) was up 4.02% or 0.05 points to 1.17 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 29.40% or 0.25 points to trade at 0.61 at the close. Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) declined 5.84% or 0.05 points to end at 0.73 and Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX) was down 4.31% or 0.09 points to 2.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 710 to 517 and 379 ended unchanged.

Shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell to 5-year lows; falling 29.40% or 0.25 to 0.61.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.76% to 10.82.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.15% or 2.95 to $1,995.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.06% or 0.82 to hit $76.28 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.20% or 0.98 to trade at $80.98 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.19% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 97.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 103.64.