Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.70% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which rose 10.77% or 0.14 points to trade at 1.44 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) added 6.76% or 0.03 points to end at 0.40 and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) was up 6.11% or 0.75 points to 13.03 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (ASX:TWE), which lost 5.59% or 0.59 points to trade at 9.97 in late trade. Idp Education Ltd (ASX:IEL) declined 5.03% or 0.50 points to end at 9.45 and Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX:NWL) shed 4.89% or 1.46 points to 28.40.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 683 to 370 and 476 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 1.98% to 12.64.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.05% or 1.59 to $2,922.19 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.85% or 0.58 to hit $67.68 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.31% or 0.22 to trade at $70.82 a barrel.
AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.62, while AUD/JPY fell 0.44% to 93.57.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 105.57.