Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.16%

Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Energy , Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.16%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Regis Resources Ltd (AX: RRL ), which rose 5.91% or 0.260 points to trade at 4.660 at the close. Northern Star Resources Ltd (AX: NST ) added 5.26% or 0.450 points to end at 9.010 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) was up 5.17% or 0.230 points to 4.680 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Bega Cheese Ltd (AX: BGA ), which lost 12.32% or 0.700 points to trade at 4.980 in late trade. Mayne Pharma Group Ltd (AX: MYX ) declined 8.05% or 0.070 points to end at 0.800 and Syrah Resources Ltd (AX: SYR ) shed 7.10% or 0.120 points to 1.570.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 687 to 475 and 317 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 0.40% to 17.606.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.06% or 0.75 to $1254.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.56% or 0.26 to hit $46.86 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.37 to trade at $56.63 a barrel.

AUD/USD was up 0.22% to 0.7195, while AUD/JPY rose 0.07% to 80.84.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 96.347.