Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.94%

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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.94%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which rose 3.91% or 0.10 points to trade at 2.66 at the close. Meanwhile, Star Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SGR) added 3.32% or 0.09 points to end at 2.80 and Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX:AZJ) was up 3.17% or 0.12 points to 3.90 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX:CAR), which fell 9.55% or 1.93 points to trade at 18.25 at the close. Nearmap Ltd (ASX:NEA) declined 8.70% or 0.10 points to end at 1.05 and Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) was down 8.15% or 0.11 points to 1.24.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 1024 to 454 and 368 ended unchanged.

Shares in Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX:CAR) fell to 52-week lows; losing 9.55% or 1.93 to 18.25. Shares in Silver Lake Resources Ltd (ASX:SLR) fell to 52-week lows; falling 8.15% or 0.11 to 1.24.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.14% to 18.11.

Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.15% or 2.80 to $1,818.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.25% or 0.28 to hit $111.48 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.27% or 0.31 to trade at $113.49 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.28% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 0.23% to 93.79.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 104.32.