Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cimic Group Ltd (AX:CIM), which rose 4.64% or 2.210 points to trade at 49.810 at the close. Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) added 3.88% or 0.180 points to end at 4.820 and CSR Ltd (AX:CSR) was up 2.92% or 0.120 points to 4.230 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Greencross Ltd (AX:GXL), which lost 5.80% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.220 in late trade. Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR) declined 4.84% or 0.210 points to end at 4.130 and Nufarm Ltd (AX:NUF) shed 4.32% or 0.325 points to 7.195.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 629 to 573 and 383 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 3.02% to 12.403.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.03% or 0.40 to $1225.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.29% or 0.20 to hit $68.72 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.68% or 0.50 to trade at $73.94 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.38% to 0.7397, while AUD/JPY fell 0.29% to 82.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 94.39.