Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Real Estate Investment and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST), which rose 7.36% or 0.660 points to trade at 9.630 at the close. Computershare Ltd. (AX:CPU) added 5.90% or 1.050 points to end at 18.850 and Emeco Holdings Ltd (AX:EHL) was up 5.90% or 0.160 points to 2.870 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX:PGH), which lost 8.73% or 0.310 points to trade at 3.240 in late trade. Bapcor Ltd (AX:BAP) declined 7.94% or 0.510 points to end at 5.910 and Carsales.Com Ltd (AX:CAR) shed 5.42% or 0.660 points to 11.520.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 618 to 509 and 363 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 2.40% to 13.139.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.21% or 2.75 to $1316.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.87% or 0.46 to hit $53.56 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.85% or 0.53 to trade at $62.95 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.55% to 0.7132, while AUD/JPY rose 0.70% to 78.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 96.453.