Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gold, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.
At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.93% to hit a new 3-months low.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which rose 4.78% or 0.100 points to trade at 2.190 at the close. Meanwhile, Independence Group NL (ASX:IGO) added 4.37% or 0.200 points to end at 4.780 and Sirius Resources NL (ASX:SIR) was up 3.56% or 0.130 points to 3.780 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Virtus Health Ltd (ASX:VRT), which fell 6.87% or 0.420 points to trade at 5.690 at the close. Retail Food Group Ltd (ASX:RFG) declined 6.45% or 0.410 points to end at 5.950 and Syrah Res F (ASX:SYR) was down 5.75% or 0.250 points to 4.100.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 614 to 397 and 201 ended unchanged.
Shares in Virtus Health Ltd (ASX:VRT) fell to all time lows; falling 6.87% or 0.420 to 5.690.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 0.80% to 17.197.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.30% or 3.60 to $1190.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.89% or 0.55 to hit $60.72 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.60% or 0.39 to trade at $65.10 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.38% to 0.7802, while AUD/JPY rose 0.26% to 96.72.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.12% at 95.88.