Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.74%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy , Resources and Metals & Mining sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.74%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were CYBG PLC (AX: CYB ), which rose 3.37% or 0.160 points to trade at 4.910 at the close. Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (AX: CTD ) added 3.01% or 0.670 points to end at 22.900 and Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (AX: SOL ) was up 3.00% or 0.890 points to 30.600 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Aveo Group (AX: AOG ), which lost 9.81% or 0.185 points to trade at 1.700 in late trade. Pact Group Holdings Ltd (AX: PGH ) declined 9.72% or 0.350 points to end at 3.250 and Elders Ltd (AX: ELD ) shed 8.44% or 0.650 points to 7.050.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 814 to 351 and 326 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 11.64% to 17.509.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.08% or 1.00 to $1202.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.83% or 0.46 to hit $55.23 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.46% or 0.30 to trade at $65.17 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 0.7218, while AUD/JPY rose 0.09% to 82.22.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 96.99.