Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust, Financials and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.10%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX:LYC), which rose 13.33% or 0.008 points to trade at 0.068 at the close. Meanwhile, Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) added 13.16% or 0.025 points to end at 0.215 and Atlas Iron Ltd (ASX:AGO) was up 6.45% or 0.010 points to 0.165 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Medusa Mining Ltd (ASX:MML), which fell 7.80% or 0.055 points to trade at 0.650 at the close. Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP) declined 3.26% or 0.100 points to end at 2.970 and Scentre (ASX:SCG) was down 3.05% or 0.11 points to 3.50.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 309 to 193 and 44 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.38% to 14.581.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.04% or 0.50 to $1200.90 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.88% or 0.47 to hit $53.65 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract fell 0.80% or 0.46 to trade at $57.16 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.76% to 0.8192, while AUD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 98.08.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 90.29.