Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Discretionary, Financials and Consumer Staples sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.58%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC), which rose 4.06% or 0.140 points to trade at 3.590 at the close. Meanwhile, Virgin Money PLC (ASX:VUK) added 3.86% or 0.14 points to end at 3.77 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was up 3.21% or 0.06 points to 1.93 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M), which fell 7.67% or 0.50 points to trade at 6.02 at the close. Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:FLT) declined 6.63% or 1.62 points to end at 22.81 and Webjet Ltd (ASX:WEB) was down 6.19% or 0.41 points to 6.21.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 720 to 633 and 398 ended unchanged.
Shares in Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) rose to 52-week highs; up 4.06% or 0.140 to 3.590.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.26% to 15.467.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.59% or 10.45 to $1750.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.47% or 0.37 to hit $79.30 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 2.07% or 1.68 to trade at $82.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.70% to 0.7240, while AUD/JPY fell 0.54% to 80.82.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 94.203.