Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, IT and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.32%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 12.90% or 0.160 points to trade at 1.400 at the close. Meanwhile, Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF) added 7.09% or 0.310 points to end at 4.680 and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) was up 4.71% or 0.070 points to 1.555 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which fell 6.76% or 0.250 points to trade at 3.450 at the close. Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) declined 6.24% or 1.63 points to end at 24.49 and Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) was down 5.08% or 0.120 points to 2.240.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 634 to 583 and 359 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.56% to 17.970.
Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.81% or 14.95 to $1858.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.72% or 0.30 to hit $41.62 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.61% or 0.27 to trade at $44.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.26% to 0.7146, while AUD/JPY rose 0.34% to 76.35.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 95.127.