Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Materials and Gold sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Qube Holdings Ltd (AX:QUB), which rose 3.49% or 0.080 points to trade at 2.370 at the close. Regis Healthcare Ltd (AX:REG) added 2.85% or 0.120 points to end at 4.330 and Flight Centre Ltd (AX:FLT) was up 2.48% or 0.700 points to 28.920 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL), which lost 4.15% or 0.170 points to trade at 3.930 in late trade. Ioof Holdings Ltd (AX:IFL) declined 3.69% or 0.320 points to end at 8.360 and Alumina Ltd (AX:AWC) shed 3.59% or 0.070 points to 1.880.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 632 to 466 and 357 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 down 4.04% to 10.914.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.09% or 1.15 to $1217.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.60% or 0.32 to hit $52.82 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.50% or 0.28 to trade at $55.64 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.05% to 0.7592, while AUD/JPY fell 0.12% to 86.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 101.80.