Australia shares lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.75%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.75%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX: CWY ), which rose 5.33% or 0.040 points to trade at 0.790 at the close. Pacific Brands Ltd (AX: PBG ) added 5.00% or 0.045 points to end at 0.945 and St Barbara Ltd (AX: SBM ) was up 4.19% or 0.090 points to 2.240 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Select Harvests Ltd (AX: SHV ), which lost 6.63% or 0.330 points to trade at 4.650 in late trade. Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (AX: LNG ) declined 5.83% or 0.035 points to end at 0.565 and Broadspectrum Ltd (AX: BRS ) shed 4.93% or 0.055 points to 1.060.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 511 to 495 and 333 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 5.35% to 18.913 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.19% or 2.40 to $1245.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 1.00% or 0.44 to hit $44.48 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.03% or 0.47 to trade at $46.05 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 1.56% to 0.7627, while AUD/JPY fell 1.66% to 84.82.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.05% at 94.50.