Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Resources sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which rose 6.88% or 0.150 points to trade at 2.330 at the close. Incitec Pivot Ltd (AX:IPL) added 5.11% or 0.160 points to end at 3.290 and Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd (AX:PRG) was up 4.90% or 0.070 points to 1.500 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN), which lost 9.64% or 0.620 points to trade at 5.810 in late trade. Iluka Resources Ltd (AX:ILU) declined 8.14% or 0.590 points to end at 6.660 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) shed 6.49% or 0.110 points to 1.585.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 526 to 350 and 312 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 5.66% to 14.754.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 1.08% or 13.50 to $1235.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.30% or 0.54 to hit $40.91 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 1.24% or 0.52 to trade at $41.27 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.08% to 0.7615, while AUD/JPY fell 0.09% to 85.56.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.18% at 95.84.