Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.50%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.50% to hit a new 1-month low.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which rose 13.37% or 0.13 points to trade at 1.06 at the close. Meanwhile, Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) added 10.16% or 0.10 points to end at 1.03 and St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) was up 9.35% or 0.05 points to 0.58 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which fell 5.70% or 0.13 points to trade at 2.15 at the close. Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC) declined 5.24% or 0.05 points to end at 0.90 and Nuix Ltd (ASX:NXL) was down 4.98% or 0.06 points to 1.05.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 853 to 408 and 350 ended unchanged.

Shares in Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC) fell to 52-week lows; down 5.70% or 0.13 to 2.15.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.51% to 14.71.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.76% or 14.25 to $1,881.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.64% or 0.49 to hit $77.17 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.58% or 0.48 to trade at $83.26 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 1.49% to 0.67, while AUD/JPY rose 1.07% to 89.73.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.67% at 103.46.