Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.07%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the A-REITs, IT and Telecoms Services sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.07%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG), which rose 2.70% or 0.01 points to trade at 0.38 at the close. Meanwhile, Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) added 2.41% or 0.02 points to end at 0.74 and Qbe Insurance Group Ltd (ASX:QBE) was up 2.35% or 0.35 points to 15.23 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS), which fell 27.41% or 0.47 points to trade at 1.23 at the close. Polynovo Ltd (ASX:PNV) declined 7.64% or 0.11 points to end at 1.33 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was down 6.10% or 0.03 points to 0.39.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 751 to 485 and 335 ended unchanged.

Shares in Healius Ltd (ASX:HLS) fell to 5-year lows; down 27.41% or 0.47 to 1.23.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 7.63% to 10.52 a new 3-months low.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.05% or 1.10 to $2,000.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.01% or 0.01 to hit $77.76 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.02% or 0.02 to trade at $82.43 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.14% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.02% to 97.30.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 103.56.