Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the S&P/ASX All Ord Gold, S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining and S&P/ASX 200 Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.95%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd (ASX:HVN), which rose 6.65% or 0.230 points to trade at 3.690 at the close. Iluka Resources Ltd (ASX:ILU) added 5.05% or 0.310 points to end at 6.450 and Mount Gibson Iron Ltd (ASX:MGX) was up 4.26% or 0.010 points to 0.245 in late trade.
Biggest losers included OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:OZL), which lost 11.68% or 0.430 points to trade at 3.250 in late trade. Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) declined 11.11% or 0.030 points to end at 0.240 and Panaust Ltd (ASX:PNA) shed 9.69% or 0.140 points to 1.305.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 347 to 206 and 42 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 4.60% to 15.943.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.47% or 5.80 to $1228.60 a troy ounce.
Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in February fell 0.41% or 0.19 to hit $45.70 a barrel, while the March Brent Oil contract fell 0.52% or 0.25 to trade at $47.57 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.36% to 0.8137, while AUD/JPY fell 1.11% to 95.22.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.04% at 92.48.