Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Utilities and A-REITs sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.26%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH), which rose 6.93% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.470 at the close. Meanwhile, Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) added 5.52% or 1.420 points to end at 27.140 and Eclipx Group Ltd (ASX:ECX) was up 4.20% or 0.050 points to 1.240 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE), which fell 4.87% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.930 at the close. Emeco Holdings Ltd (ASX:EHL) declined 4.74% or 0.100 points to end at 2.010 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (ASX:BAL) was down 4.65% or 0.370 points to 7.580.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 745 to 512 and 427 ended unchanged.
Shares in Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE) fell to 52-week lows; falling 4.87% or 0.150 to 2.930.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.82% to 13.023.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.60% or 8.55 to $1410.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.06% or 1.19 to hit $59.02 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.51% or 0.97 to trade at $65.25 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.29% to 0.6977, while AUD/JPY rose 0.48% to 74.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 95.752.