Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.23%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Gold, Resources and Metals&Mining sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.23%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), which rose 11.11% or 0.11 points to trade at 1.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Amcor PLC (ASX:AMC) added 4.12% or 0.57 points to end at 14.39 and Austal Ltd (ASX:ASB) was up 3.48% or 0.08 points to 2.38 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 8.03% or 0.10 points to trade at 1.15 at the close. Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) declined 7.18% or 0.15 points to end at 1.94 and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) was down 5.86% or 0.13 points to 2.09.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 852 to 315 and 413 ended unchanged.

Shares in Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) fell to 5-year lows; falling 8.03% or 0.10 to 1.15.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 7.09% to 12.67.

Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.13% or 2.95 to $2,299.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 1.03% or 0.84 to hit $81.09 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.92% or 0.79 to trade at $85.54 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.13% to 102.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.18% at 106.29.