Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.61%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.61%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M), which rose 12.08% or 0.72 points to trade at 6.68 at the close. Meanwhile, Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX:CAR) added 3.85% or 0.87 points to end at 23.46 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was up 3.33% or 0.08 points to 2.48 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which fell 9.92% or 0.120 points to trade at 1.090 at the close. Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) declined 9.91% or 1.10 points to end at 10.00 and Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) was down 7.73% or 0.070 points to 0.835.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 843 to 564 and 372 ended unchanged.

Shares in Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) fell to 52-week lows; falling 9.92% or 0.120 to 1.090. Shares in Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX:CAR) rose to all time highs; gaining 3.85% or 0.87 to 23.46.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 11.00% to 12.033.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.04% or 0.80 to $1777.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.82% or 1.24 to hit $66.97 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.61% or 1.14 to trade at $69.45 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.41% to 0.7339, while AUD/JPY fell 0.24% to 80.23.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 92.562.