Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.69%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Graincorp Ltd (AX:GNC), which rose 8.00% or 0.650 points to trade at 8.770 at the close. Meanwhile, Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) added 4.19% or 0.078 points to end at 1.927 and Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) was up 3.78% or 0.225 points to 6.175 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL), which fell 7.44% or 0.660 points to trade at 8.210 at the close. Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) declined 5.93% or 0.070 points to end at 1.110 and Technology One Ltd (AX:TNE) was down 5.33% or 0.280 points to 4.970.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 598 to 407 and 328 ended unchanged.
Shares in Metcash Ltd (AX:MTS) rose to 52-week highs; rising 4.19% or 0.078 to 1.927.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.83% to 17.664.
Gold for June delivery was down 0.18% or 2.35 to $1274.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.31% or 0.15 to hit $48.46 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.13 to trade at $49.41 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.60% to 0.7282, while AUD/JPY fell 0.49% to 79.56.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.22% at 94.76.