Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy, Resources and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR), which rose 4.86% or 0.140 points to trade at 3.020 at the close. Costa Group Holdings Ltd (AX:CGC) added 4.26% or 0.220 points to end at 5.380 and Bapcor Ltd (AX:BAP) was up 4.21% or 0.250 points to 6.190 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Challenger Ltd (AX:CGF), which lost 17.23% or 1.590 points to trade at 7.640 in late trade. Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) declined 8.20% or 0.470 points to end at 5.260 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX:NST) shed 5.65% or 0.520 points to 8.680.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 629 to 442 and 335 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 5.11% to 13.789.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.01% or 0.10 to $1283.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.23% or 0.12 to hit $53.13 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.33% or 0.20 to trade at $61.70 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.7137, while AUD/JPY rose 0.44% to 78.23.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 95.965.