Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financials, IT and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.37%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which rose 5.42% or 0.110 points to trade at 2.140 at the close. Meanwhile, ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) added 4.35% or 0.340 points to end at 8.150 and Sky Network Television Ltd. (AX:SKT) was up 4.33% or 0.100 points to 2.410 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Perpetual Ltd (AX:PPT), which fell 4.88% or 2.700 points to trade at 52.600 at the close. Platinum Asset Management Ltd (AX:PTM) declined 4.09% or 0.250 points to end at 5.860 and Insurance Australia Group Ltd (AX:IAG) was down 3.88% or 0.250 points to 6.200.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 616 to 541 and 351 ended unchanged.
Shares in ALS Ltd (AX:ALQ) rose to 3-years highs; up 4.35% or 0.340 to 8.150.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 5.61% to 14.318.
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.05% or 0.65 to $1343.85 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.10% or 0.05 to hit $48.61 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.36% or 0.19 to trade at $53.19 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.03% to 0.7994, while AUD/JPY fell 0.10% to 86.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 92.21.