Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Financials and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Emeco Holdings Ltd (ASX:EHL), which rose 14.24% or 0.235 points to trade at 1.885 at the close. Ausdrill Ltd (ASX:ASL) added 6.57% or 0.090 points to end at 1.460 and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (ASX:SAR) was up 6.44% or 0.210 points to 3.470 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Challenger Ltd (ASX:CGF), which lost 3.53% or 0.280 points to trade at 7.660 in late trade. Bapcor Ltd (ASX:BAP) declined 3.24% or 0.190 points to end at 5.670 and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (ASX:CWY) shed 2.62% or 0.060 points to 2.230.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 622 to 596 and 388 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 0.39% to 13.946.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.63% or 8.45 to $1339.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 2.01% or 1.07 to hit $52.20 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.89% or 1.18 to trade at $61.11 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.19% to 0.6947, while AUD/JPY fell 0.35% to 75.25.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.03% at 96.613.