Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Utilities and Real Estate Investment sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were NRW Holdings Ltd (ASX:NWH), which rose 6.93% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.470 at the close. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) added 5.52% or 1.420 points to end at 27.140 and Eclipx Group Ltd (ASX:ECX) was up 4.20% or 0.050 points to 1.240 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Orocobre Ltd (ASX:ORE), which lost 4.87% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.930 in late trade. Emeco Holdings Ltd (ASX:EHL) declined 4.74% or 0.100 points to end at 2.010 and Bellamys Australia Ltd (ASX:BAL) shed 4.65% or 0.370 points to 7.580.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 745 to 512 and 427 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 down 1.82% to 13.023.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.61% or 8.65 to $1410.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.08% or 1.20 to hit $59.03 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.56% or 1.00 to trade at $65.28 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.27% to 0.6976, while AUD/JPY rose 0.45% to 74.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 95.752.