Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy, Industrials and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.21%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI), which rose 15.91% or 0.035 points to trade at 0.255 at the close. Meanwhile, BC Iron Ltd (ASX:BCI) added 8.66% or 0.055 points to end at 0.690 and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) was up 8.11% or 0.060 points to 0.800 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which fell 6.70% or 0.070 points to trade at 0.975 at the close. AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) declined 5.77% or 0.075 points to end at 1.225 and Worleyparsons Ltd (ASX:WOR) was down 4.65% or 0.45 points to 9.23.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 306 to 265 and 31 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.84% to 15.812.
Gold for February delivery was down 0.47% or 5.70 to $1213.70 a troy ounce.
Elsewhere in commodities trading, crude oil for delivery in February fell 1.26% or 0.60 to hit $47.33 a barrel, while the February brent oil contract fell 1.11% or 0.57 to trade at $50.60 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.8071, while AUD/JPY rose 0.21% to 95.94.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 91.99.