Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.92% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG), which rose 4.78% or 0.028 points to trade at 0.603 at the close. Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (AX:RWC) added 3.87% or 0.200 points to end at 5.370 and GWA Group Ltd (AX:GWA) was up 2.67% or 0.080 points to 3.080 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE), which lost 11.54% or 0.480 points to trade at 3.680 in late trade. Sims Metal Management Ltd (AX:SGM) declined 5.04% or 0.665 points to end at 12.525 and Syrah Resources Ltd (AX:SYR) shed 4.88% or 0.120 points to 2.340.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 787 to 428 and 358 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 4.95% to 12.542.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.01% or 0.10 to $1199.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.77% or 0.54 to hit $69.33 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.52% or 0.41 to trade at $77.76 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.13% to 0.7186, while AUD/JPY rose 0.17% to 80.12.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 95.31.