Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy, Consumer Discretionary and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.92% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 15.23% or 0.185 points to trade at 1.400 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) added 10.71% or 0.450 points to end at 4.650 and Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) was up 10.04% or 0.230 points to 2.520 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Beach Energy Ltd (AX:BPT), which lost 9.55% or 0.075 points to trade at 0.710 in late trade. Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) declined 8.38% or 0.300 points to end at 3.280 and Santos Ltd (AX:STO) shed 7.80% or 0.290 points to 3.430.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 981 to 221 and 229 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 14.69% to 21.030 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 3.98% or 50.70 to $1325.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.82% or 1.27 to hit $43.71 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 2.54% or 1.17 to trade at $44.87 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 1.84% to 0.7619, while AUD/JPY fell 5.03% to 77.53.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.73% at 96.19.