Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.02%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Gold , Energy and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.02% to hit a new 1-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Speedcast International Ltd (AX: SDA ), which rose 3.11% or 0.160 points to trade at 5.310 at the close. Nanosonics Ltd (AX: NAN ) added 2.33% or 0.060 points to end at 2.630 and Duluxgroup Ltd (AX: DLX ) was up 1.90% or 0.140 points to 7.520 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX: GXY ), which lost 6.63% or 0.270 points to trade at 3.800 in late trade. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (AX: WHC ) declined 6.18% or 0.290 points to end at 4.400 and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (AX: PLS ) shed 5.63% or 0.060 points to 1.005.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 652 to 583 and 395 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 down 7.74% to 11.539.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.86% or 11.50 to $1327.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.31% or 0.20 to hit $64.17 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.12% or 0.08 to trade at $69.46 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.03% to 0.7965, while AUD/JPY fell 0.07% to 88.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 90.59.