Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.25%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Utilities and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.25%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH), which rose 8.22% or 0.06 points to trade at 0.79 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 9.20% or 3.32 points to end at 39.40 and Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) was up 8.40% or 0.60 points to 7.74 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC), which lost 6.22% or 0.06 points to trade at 0.90 in late trade. AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) declined 6.01% or 0.67 points to end at 10.48 and Domino'S Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX:DMP) shed 3.07% or 1.06 points to 33.48.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 606 to 507 and 462 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 up 2.89% to 13.73 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.24% or 6.60 to $2,794.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.70% or 0.48 to hit $69.09 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.69% or 0.50 to trade at $72.66 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.02% to 0.66, while AUD/JPY fell 0.30% to 100.53.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 104.03.