Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Utilities and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.51%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Retail Food Group Ltd (AX:RFG), which rose 7.98% or 0.075 points to trade at 1.015 at the close. Meanwhile, Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR) added 4.48% or 0.640 points to end at 14.910 and Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Ltd (AX:GMA) was up 4.37% or 0.100 points to 2.390 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Wisetech Global Ltd (AX:WTC), which fell 5.03% or 0.500 points to trade at 9.450 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) declined 4.00% or 0.200 points to end at 4.800 and Navitas Ltd (AX:NVT) was down 4.21% or 0.195 points to 4.435.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 633 to 571 and 377 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.53% to 13.990.
Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.04% or 0.50 to $1346.40 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.31% or 0.20 to hit $65.31 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.48% or 0.34 to trade at $70.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.19% to 0.7746, while AUD/JPY fell 0.30% to 82.95.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 89.27.