Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gold, A-REITs and Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.57%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (AX:QBE), which rose 3.40% or 0.320 points to trade at 9.740 at the close. Meanwhile, Mantra Group Ltd (AX:MTR) added 2.76% or 0.090 points to end at 3.350 and Computershare Ltd. (AX:CPU) was up 2.20% or 0.230 points to 10.700 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Syrah Res F (AX:SYR), which fell 22.81% or 0.990 points to trade at 3.350 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) declined 10.02% or 0.450 points to end at 4.040 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) was down 8.63% or 0.120 points to 1.270.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 705 to 382 and 250 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 6.72% to 14.533.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.43% or 5.45 to $1275.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.97% or 0.47 to hit $49.16 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.88% or 0.45 to trade at $51.32 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7625, while AUD/JPY rose 0.06% to 78.47.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 96.05.