Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Materials, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.23%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE), which rose 13.33% or 0.94 points to trade at 7.99 at the close. Meanwhile, Mcmillan Shakespeare Ltd (ASX:MMS) added 3.34% or 0.30 points to end at 9.29 and ALS Ltd (ASX:ALQ) was up 3.24% or 0.26 points to 8.29 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO), which fell 13.20% or 0.730 points to trade at 4.800 at the close. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) declined 7.63% or 0.290 points to end at 3.510 and Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE) was down 5.81% or 0.19 points to 3.08.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 724 to 519 and 352 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.30% to 19.171.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.47% or 9.20 to $1953.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.29% or 0.12 to hit $41.16 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.34% or 0.15 to trade at $43.76 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.24% to 0.7175, while AUD/JPY rose 0.12% to 75.30.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 93.520.