Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Consumer Staples sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd (ASX:AGI), which rose 5.77% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.750 at the close. Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX:SEA) added 4.67% or 0.025 points to end at 0.560 and Senex Energy Ltd (ASX:SXY) was up 4.41% or 0.015 points to 0.355 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Western Areas Ltd (ASX:WSA), which lost 5.68% or 0.230 points to trade at 3.820 in late trade. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) declined 5.37% or 0.130 points to end at 2.290 and BC Iron Ltd (ASX:BCI) shed 5.26% or 0.025 points to 0.450.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 325 to 248 and 39 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 0.78% to 13.940.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.27% or 3.30 to $1207.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April rose 0.05% or 0.03 to hit $50.55 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 0.65% or 0.40 to trade at $60.69 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.07% to 0.7822, while AUD/JPY rose 0.01% to 93.59.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 95.47.