Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, A-REITs and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.97%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which rose 3.17% or 0.035 points to trade at 1.140 at the close. Meanwhile, Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) added 2.12% or 0.420 points to end at 20.270 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 1.81% or 0.050 points to 2.820 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which fell 3.76% or 0.080 points to trade at 2.050 at the close. Flexigroup Ltd (AX:FXL) declined 3.53% or 0.065 points to end at 1.775 and Chorus Ltd (AX:CNU) was down 3.29% or 0.140 points to 4.120.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 620 to 440 and 364 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.88% to 14.805.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.38% or 4.67 to $1219.37 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.89% or 0.85 to hit $45.89 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.66% or 0.79 to trade at $48.31 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.20% to 0.7653, while AUD/JPY fell 0.16% to 86.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 95.42.