Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.35%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cimic Group Ltd (AX:CIM), which rose 4.56% or 2.170 points to trade at 49.770 at the close. Meanwhile, Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) added 3.88% or 0.180 points to end at 4.820 and CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) was up 2.92% or 0.120 points to 4.230 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL), which fell 5.80% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.220 at the close. Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR) declined 5.07% or 0.220 points to end at 4.120 and Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF) was down 4.32% or 0.325 points to 7.195.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 627 to 571 and 387 ended unchanged.
Shares in Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF) fell to 52-week lows; losing 4.32% or 0.325 to 7.195.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.05% to 12.399.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1225.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.29% or 0.20 to hit $68.72 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.72% or 0.53 to trade at $73.97 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.36% to 0.7398, while AUD/JPY fell 0.28% to 82.28.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 94.38.