Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy, Consumer Discretionary and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM), which rose 5.67% or 0.028 points to trade at 0.512 at the close. Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) added 3.58% or 0.065 points to end at 1.880 and Estia Health Ltd (AX:EHE) was up 3.64% or 0.100 points to 2.850 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Crown Ltd (AX:CWN), which lost 9.10% or 1.280 points to trade at 12.780 in late trade. Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) declined 4.13% or 0.210 points to end at 4.870 and Janus Henderson Group PLC DRC (AX:JHG) shed 4.10% or 1.440 points to 33.720.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 579 to 553 and 385 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.92% to 11.374.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.13% or 1.75 to $1306.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.38% or 0.24 to hit $64.22 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.28% or 0.20 to trade at $70.81 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.27% to 0.7141, while AUD/JPY rose 0.33% to 79.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 96.625.