Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy, Telecoms Services and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.42%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL), which rose 6.29% or 0.110 points to trade at 1.860 at the close. Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) added 6.20% or 0.110 points to end at 1.885 and Flexigroup Ltd (ASX:FXL) was up 4.58% or 0.140 points to 3.200 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (ASX:LNG), which fell 9.97% or 0.290 points to trade at 2.620 at the close. Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) declined 8.11% or 0.015 points to end at 0.170 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SIP) was down 6.25% or 0.060 points to 0.900.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 559 to 422 and 166 ended unchanged.
Shares in Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX:PDN) fell to 5-year lows; falling 8.11% or 0.015 to 0.170.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 2.21% to 15.444.
Gold for December delivery was down 0.34% or 3.70 to $1087.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.14% or 0.52 to hit $46.26 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.22% or 0.61 to trade at $50.60 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.43% to 0.7348, while AUD/JPY fell 0.41% to 91.41.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 98.17.