Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.32%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.32%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Seven West Media Ltd (AX: SWM ), which rose 5.10% or 0.025 points to trade at 0.515 at the close. Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (AX: CTD ) added 4.36% or 1.060 points to end at 25.360 and Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX: SIG ) was up 3.77% or 0.020 points to 0.550 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Eclipx Group Ltd (AX: ECX ), which lost 55.97% or 1.055 points to trade at 0.830 in late trade. Nufarm Ltd (AX: NUF ) declined 23.92% or 1.330 points to end at 4.230 and New Hope Corporation Ltd (AX: NHC ) shed 14.14% or 0.550 points to 3.340.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 635 to 521 and 349 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 up 5.22% to 12.125.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.08% or 1.05 to $1305.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.08% or 0.05 to hit $59.24 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.12% or 0.08 to trade at $67.69 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.16% to 0.7076, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 78.92.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 95.915.