On Thursday, stocks in Australia closed lower due to declines in the Utilities, Gold, and Metals & Mining sectors. The S&P/ASX 200 decreased 0.05% at the close in Sydney. Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) was among the top performers of the session, rising 10.00% or 0.71 points to trade at 7.81 at the close.
Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) added 6.67% or 0.12 points to end at 1.92, and Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) was up 5.34% or 0.14 points to 2.76 in late trade. Conversely, the worst performers of the session were Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR), which fell 5.78% or 0.07 points to trade at 1.06 at the close.
EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) declined 4.93% or 0.04 points to end at 0.68, while Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) was down 3.49% or 0.08 points to 2.21. The Sydney Stock Exchange saw more rising stocks than declining ones, with 626 to 610, and 433 ending unchanged.
Additionally, shares in Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell to 5-year lows, dropping 3.49% or 0.08 to 2.21. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, decreased 4.37% to 12.09. Gold Futures for June delivery went down 0.27% or 5.60 to $2,031.50 a troy ounce, while crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.65% or 0.47 to hit $73.03 a barrel. The July Brent oil contract increased 0.63% or 0.48 to trade at $76.89 a barrel in commodities trading. Meanwhile, AUD/USD remained unchanged at 0.67, while AUD/JPY fell 0.50% to 90.61. The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.36% at 101.64.
