Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.73% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Graincorp Ltd (AX:GNC), which rose 2.90% or 0.240 points to trade at 8.510 at the close. Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL) added 2.28% or 0.060 points to end at 2.690 and Iron Mountain Inc (AX:INM) was up 2.23% or 0.90 points to 41.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR), which lost 8.89% or 0.320 points to trade at 3.280 in late trade. A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX:A2M) declined 7.52% or 0.980 points to end at 12.060 and Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) shed 4.67% or 0.280 points to 5.710.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 809 to 388 and 361 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 up 3.83% to 16.226.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.07% or 1.00 to $1341.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.86% or 0.56 to hit $64.69 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.78% or 0.54 to trade at $68.92 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.14% to 0.7692, while AUD/JPY rose 0.45% to 81.24.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 88.99.