Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financials, Gold and Metals & Mining sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.68%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX:NIC), which rose 5.96% or 0.065 points to trade at 1.155 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) added 4.52% or 0.50 points to end at 11.56 and AP Eagers Ltd (ASX:APE) was up 4.41% or 0.60 points to 14.20 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Nufarm Ltd (ASX:NUF), which fell 8.57% or 0.43 points to trade at 4.59 at the close. Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) declined 8.07% or 8.690 points to end at 98.990 and Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) was down 4.22% or 0.370 points to 8.400.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 792 to 614 and 389 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.35% to 12.546.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.21% or 3.95 to $1858.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.82% or 0.65 to hit $79.09 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.75% or 0.62 to trade at $81.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7302, while AUD/JPY rose 0.05% to 83.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 95.925.