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 1.46%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which rose 4.10% or 0.430 points to trade at 10.920 at the close. Nine Ent Fpo (AX:NEC) added 3.77% or 0.045 points to end at 1.240 and Westfield Corporation (AX:WFD) was up 3.28% or 0.340 points to 10.710 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Worleyparsons Ltd (AX:WOR), which lost 13.83% or 0.950 points to trade at 5.920 in late trade. Western Areas Ltd (AX:WSA) declined 11.28% or 0.290 points to end at 2.280 and Covermore Fpo (AX:CVO) shed 9.93% or 0.135 points to 1.225.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 618 to 433 and 324 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 9.24% to 18.680.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.70% or 9.05 to $1282.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.34% or 0.15 to hit $43.80 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.09 to trade at $45.06 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.24% to 0.7501, while AUD/JPY rose 0.68% to 80.32.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at 93.14.