Australia's equity benchmark moved lower at Thursday's close in Sydney, with the S&P/ASX 200 finishing down 0.26%.
Sector weakness in Materials, Metals & Mining and Gold helped pull the index into negative territory by the end of trading. Market breadth showed more falling shares than rising ones: 536 stocks declined, 470 advanced and 419 finished unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
Top performers
- Fletcher Building Ltd (FBU) led gains on the S&P/ASX 200, climbing 6.83% or 0.19 points to close at 2.97.
- New Hope Corporation Ltd (NHC) advanced 5.86% or 0.29 points to finish at 5.24.
- Temple & Webster Group Ltd (TPW) rose 5.00% or 0.27 points to end the session at 5.67.
Largest decliners
- Magellan Financial Group Ltd (MFG) was the weakest large-cap, falling 4.70% or 0.50 points to close at 10.04.
- Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO) dropped 3.91% or 6.40 points to end at 157.45.
- South32 Ltd (S32) slipped 3.79% or 0.15 points to finish at 3.81.
Volatility and market indicators
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of options on the index, rose 4.28% to 11.45, indicating an increase in short-term market uncertainty as trading concluded.
Commodities
Gold futures for August delivery gained 0.71% or 28.80 to trade at $4,111.20 a troy ounce. In energy markets, crude oil for August delivery declined 0.20% or 0.15 to $73.37 a barrel, while the September Brent contract eased 0.17% or 0.13 to $77.89 a barrel.
Foreign exchange
The Australian dollar showed little change against the U.S. dollar, with AUD/USD unchanged 0.22% at 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 0.04% to 112.66. Separately, U.S. Dollar Index Futures were down 0.17% at 100.59.
Overall, Thursday's session closed with the S&P/ASX 200 marginally lower, led by losses in resource-linked sectors and a rise in implied volatility, while a handful of stocks recorded double-digit percentage moves in both directions.