Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.08%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Australian Pharma Industries Ltd (AX: API ), which rose 4.52% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.850 at the close. Orocobre Ltd (AX: ORE ) added 3.93% or 0.140 points to end at 3.700 and Monadelphous Group Ltd (AX: MND ) was up 3.91% or 0.560 points to 14.870 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Bega Cheese Ltd (AX: BGA ), which lost 5.80% or 0.440 points to trade at 7.140 in late trade. Wisetech Global Ltd (AX: WTC ) declined 4.86% or 1.055 points to end at 20.665 and Resolute Mining Ltd (AX: RSG ) shed 4.11% or 0.045 points to 1.050.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 621 to 582 and 367 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 0.49% to 12.930.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.24% or 2.90 to $1199.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 1.00% or 0.69 to hit $69.94 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.41 to trade at $79.47 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.25% to 0.7102, while AUD/JPY fell 0.34% to 79.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.15% at 95.19.