Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.82%

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 0.82%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX: SIP ), which rose 2.62% or 0.033 points to trade at 1.272 at the close. Myer Holdings Ltd (AX: MYR ) added 2.51% or 0.033 points to end at 1.327 and Automotive Group Holdings Ltd (AX: AHG ) was up 2.41% or 0.090 points to 3.820 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Santos Ltd (AX: STO ), which lost 10.43% or 0.460 points to trade at 3.950 in late trade. Regis Resources Ltd (AX: RRL ) declined 8.33% or 0.230 points to end at 2.530 and Western Areas Ltd (AX: WSA ) shed 7.05% or 0.225 points to 2.965.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 666 to 376 and 297 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 4.57% to 12.004.

In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 1.75% or 20.35 to $1143.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.18% or 0.09 to hit $50.95 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $53.91 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.18% to 0.7420, while AUD/JPY rose 0.55% to 87.17.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.26% at 102.30.