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 0.53%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Drillsearch Energy Ltd (ASX:DLS), which rose 8.50% or 0.085 points to trade at 1.085 at the close. Horizon Oil Ltd (ASX:HZN) added 7.69% or 0.010 points to end at 0.140 and Sirtex Medical Ltd (ASX:SRX) was up 4.16% or 1.500 points to 37.580 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ardent Leisure Group (ASX:AAD), which lost 19.14% or 0.465 points to trade at 1.965 in late trade. Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX:BDR) declined 5.77% or 0.015 points to end at 0.245 and Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX:SEA) shed 5.56% or 0.030 points to 0.510.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 361 to 214 and 45 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 0.68% to 14.994.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.22% or 2.60 to $1162.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April rose 1.29% or 0.62 to hit $48.91 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.10 to trade at $56.80 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.26% to 0.7604, while AUD/JPY fell 0.11% to 92.25.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.09% at 98.70.