Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Energy and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 2.21% to hit a new 1-month low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (ASX:SAR), which rose 4.07% or 0.140 points to trade at 3.580 at the close. Meanwhile, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 3.63% or 0.410 points to end at 11.700 and Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) was up 2.75% or 0.950 points to 35.480 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA), which fell 5.47% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.420 at the close. Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) declined 5.10% or 0.220 points to end at 4.090 and oOh!Media Ltd (ASX:OML) was down 5.02% or 0.150 points to 2.840.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 814 to 343 and 360 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.63% to 16.253 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.06% or 0.95 to $1506.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.11% or 0.06 to hit $52.70 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.03 to trade at $57.66 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.11% to 0.6711, while AUD/JPY rose 0.08% to 71.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 98.787.
