Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.87%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities , Real Estate Investment and Telecoms Services sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.87% to hit a new 6-month low.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Western Areas Ltd (AX: WSA ), which rose 5.80% or 0.160 points to trade at 2.920 at the close. A2 Milk Company Ltd (AX: A2M ) added 4.99% or 0.300 points to end at 6.310 and Independence Group NL (AX: IGO ) was up 4.11% or 0.150 points to 3.800 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (AX: SXL ), which lost 4.37% or 0.050 points to trade at 1.095 in late trade. oOh!Media Ltd (AX: OML ) declined 4.15% or 0.180 points to end at 4.160 and Aconex Ltd (AX: ACX ) shed 4.01% or 0.160 points to 3.830.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 636 to 519 and 329 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 7.76% to 11.755.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.38% or 4.85 to $1279.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.65% or 0.33 to hit $50.09 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.50% or 0.28 to trade at $55.72 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.37% to 0.7864, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 88.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 93.21.