After being around 1% lower earlier in the day, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) regained some lost ground during the afternoon to finish the session down 0.5%.
The local market's fall follows a late session sell-off overnight on Wall Street which saw the Dow Jones close down 0.6%, while the S&P 500 ended 0.7% lower.
In local economic news, traders latched on to positive comments by the Governor of Reserve Bank of Australia Mr Glenn Stevens to drive the Australian dollar higher.
The energy sector was the only sector to buck the trend today, gaining 0.16%. All other sectors fell with consumer discretionary, information technology, materials and utilities all declining by more than 1% each.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index today:
- Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC) soared 25% to 22.5 cents
- Karoon Gas Australia Limited (ASX: KAR) rallied 5.8% to $2.57
- TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) gained 2.6% to $6.32
- Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) rose 2.4% to 84.5 cents
- Nufarm Limited (ASX: NUF) added 2.3% to $4.00
These stocks were the losers on the day: