CANBERRA: Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Financials and Energy sectors led shares lower. At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.49%. The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 6.18% or 0.028 points to trade at 0.472 at the close. Meanwhile, A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) added 4.24% or 0.120 points to end at 2.950 and Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) was up 3.81% or 0.120 points to 3.270 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which fell 4.98% or 0.230 points to trade at 4.390 at the close. ASX Ltd (AX:ASX) declined 3.29% or 1.655 points to end at 48.665 and Virtus Health Ltd (AX:VRT) was down 3.09% or 0.180 points to 5.640.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 617 to 500 and 347 ended unchanged. Shares in A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) rose to all time highs; gaining 4.24% or 0.120 to 2.950. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 3.63% to 12.246. Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.61% or 7.65 to $1256.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.61% or 0.31 to hit $50.84 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.55% or 0.30 to trade at $54.06 a barrel. AUD/USD was down 0.38% to 0.7542, while AUD/JPY fell 0.67% to 83.25. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 100.37.
