Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Industrials and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.54%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST), which rose 6.46% or 0.900 points to trade at 14.840 at the close. Meanwhile, Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) added 5.62% or 0.075 points to end at 1.410 and Cooper Energy Ltd (ASX:COE) was up 4.00% or 0.015 points to 0.390 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Domain Holdings Australia Ltd (ASX:DHG), which fell 9.77% or 0.34 points to trade at 3.14 at the close. Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) declined 7.02% or 0.120 points to end at 1.590 and Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) was down 6.08% or 0.160 points to 2.470.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 713 to 471 and 346 ended unchanged.
Shares in Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) rose to 5-year highs; up 5.62% or 0.075 to 1.410.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 8.58% to 19.974.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.17% or 3.05 to $1806.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.39% or 0.16 to hit $40.46 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.35% or 0.15 to trade at $42.93 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.11% to 0.6938, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 74.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 96.892.