Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were oOh!Media Ltd (AX:OML), which rose 6.71% or 0.280 points to trade at 4.450 at the close. Mineral Resources Ltd (AX:MIN) added 5.35% or 0.760 points to end at 14.960 and Brickworks Ltd (AX:BKW) was up 4.96% or 0.770 points to 16.300 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which lost 7.03% or 0.180 points to trade at 2.380 in late trade. Ausdrill Ltd (AX:ASL) declined 5.30% or 0.075 points to end at 1.340 and Seven West Media Ltd (AX:SWM) shed 4.83% or 0.035 points to 0.690.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 615 to 526 and 362 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 0.35% to 16.180.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.11% or 1.30 to $1218.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.44% or 0.74 to hit $52.30 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.32% or 0.80 to trade at $61.20 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.15% to 0.7236, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 82.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.00% at 97.282.