Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financials, Energy and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.75%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY), which rose 5.33% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.790 at the close. Meanwhile, Pacific Brands Ltd (AX:PBG) added 5.56% or 0.050 points to end at 0.950 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 3.72% or 0.080 points to 2.230 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Select Harvests Ltd (AX:SHV), which fell 6.63% or 0.330 points to trade at 4.650 at the close. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX:LNG) declined 5.83% or 0.035 points to end at 0.565 and Broadspectrum Ltd (AX:BRS) was down 4.93% or 0.055 points to 1.060.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 511 to 494 and 334 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.35% to 18.913 a new 1-month high.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.18% or 2.30 to $1245.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.00% or 0.44 to hit $44.48 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.03% or 0.47 to trade at $46.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 1.56% to 0.7627, while AUD/JPY fell 1.67% to 84.81.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 94.51.