Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.34%

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

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.34%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS), which rose 6.35% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.92 at the close. Meanwhile, Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:CUV) added 2.69% or 0.42 points to end at 16.02 and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) was up 2.34% or 0.03 points to 1.31 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Westgold Resources Ltd (ASX:WGX), which fell 14.62% or 0.41 points to trade at 2.37 at the close. Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB) declined 6.32% or 0.06 points to end at 0.89 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) was down 5.78% or 1.09 points to 17.77.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 775 to 400 and 330 ended unchanged.

Shares in Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX:RMS) rose to 52-week highs; up 6.35% or 0.12 to 1.92.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.79% to 11.25.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.96% or 22.00 to $2,303.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.04% or 0.03 to hit $85.18 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.12% or 0.11 to trade at $89.03 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.05% to 98.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 104.47.