Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Real Estate Investment and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.98%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which rose 3.17% or 0.035 points to trade at 1.140 at the close. Newcrest Mining Ltd (AX:NCM) added 2.12% or 0.420 points to end at 20.270 and St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) was up 1.81% or 0.050 points to 2.820 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which lost 3.76% or 0.080 points to trade at 2.050 in late trade. Flexigroup Ltd (AX:FXL) declined 3.53% or 0.065 points to end at 1.775 and Chorus Ltd (AX:CNU) shed 3.29% or 0.140 points to 4.120.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 621 to 440 and 363 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 5.88% to 14.805.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.39% or 4.70 to $1219.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.93% or 0.87 to hit $45.91 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.70% or 0.81 to trade at $48.33 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.17% to 0.7651, while AUD/JPY fell 0.17% to 86.87.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 95.41.