Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, IT and Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.18%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL), which rose 4.24% or 8.960 points to trade at 220.370 at the close. Meanwhile, Bega Cheese Ltd (AX:BGA) added 4.14% or 0.300 points to end at 7.550 and Ten Network Holdings Ltd (AX:TEN) was up 3.03% or 0.005 points to 0.165 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Slater & Gordon Ltd (AX:SGH), which fell 6.79% or 0.055 points to trade at 0.755 at the close. Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD) declined 6.67% or 0.150 points to end at 2.100 and AWE Ltd (AX:AWE) was down 6.48% or 0.035 points to 0.505.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 610 to 389 and 156 ended unchanged.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.37% to 19.197.
Gold for February delivery was up 0.13% or 1.40 to $1079.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.18% or 0.07 to hit $36.03 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.36% or 0.13 to trade at $36.45 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.77% to 0.7107, while AUD/JPY fell 1.11% to 84.33.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 99.49.