Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Energy sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.58%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Duluxgroup Ltd (AX:DLX), which rose 6.10% or 0.460 points to trade at 8.000 at the close. Meanwhile, Aconex Ltd (AX:ACX) added 5.11% or 0.240 points to end at 4.940 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 3.64% or 0.110 points to 3.130 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AX:AAC), which fell 7.40% or 0.115 points to trade at 1.440 at the close. Monadelphous Group Ltd (AX:MND) declined 5.56% or 1.020 points to end at 17.320 and Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) was down 5.49% or 0.180 points to 3.100.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 773 to 467 and 345 ended unchanged.
Shares in Duluxgroup Ltd (AX:DLX) rose to all time highs; rising 6.10% or 0.460 to 8.000. Shares in St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) rose to 52-week highs; up 3.64% or 0.110 to 3.130.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.60% to 13.196 a new 1-month high.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.15% or 1.96 to $1280.94 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.10% or 0.61 to hit $55.09 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.25% or 0.78 to trade at $61.43 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.59% to 0.7586, while AUD/JPY fell 0.77% to 85.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 93.75.