Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.43% By Investing.com

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the lost 0.43%.

The best performers of the session on the were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:), which rose 10.90% or 0.145 points to trade at 1.475 at the close. Meanwhile, Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:) added 6.89% or 3.83 points to end at 59.38 and Healius Ltd (ASX:) was up 4.97% or 0.250 points to 5.280 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were CSL Ltd (ASX:), which fell 8.16% or 24.27 points to trade at 273.00 at the close. Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:) declined 6.00% or 0.300 points to end at 4.700 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:) was down 4.35% or 0.065 points to 1.430.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 722 to 618 and 400 ended unchanged.

Shares in Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:) rose to all time highs; up 6.89% or 3.83 to 59.38. Shares in Healius Ltd (ASX:) rose to 5-year highs; gaining 4.97% or 0.250 to 5.280.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.50% to 12.827.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.19% or 20.95 to $1785.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.24% or 0.88 to hit $71.75 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.06% or 0.78 to trade at $74.66 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.10% to 0.7175, while AUD/JPY rose 0.20% to 81.89.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.26% at 96.227.