CANBERRA: Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Financials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower. At the close in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.36%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which rose 6.83% or 0.095 points to trade at 1.485 at the close. Meanwhile, St Barbara Ltd (AX:SBM) added 6.33% or 0.140 points to end at 2.350 and Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX:TWE) was up 6.02% or 0.630 points to 11.100 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were BT Investment Management Ltd (AX:BTT), which fell 4.65% or 0.470 points to trade at 9.630 at the close. Tassal Group Ltd (AX:TGR) declined 4.16% or 0.175 points to end at 4.035 and Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (AX:BEN) was down 4.15% or 0.550 points to 12.690.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Australia Stock Exchange by 590 to 465 and 325 ended unchanged. The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 3.27% to 13.311. Gold for February delivery was down 0.05% or 0.55 to $1212.35 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.36% or 0.19 to hit $52.67 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.34% or 0.19 to trade at $55.66 a barrel. AUD/USD was down 0.26% to 0.7546, while AUD/JPY rose 0.34% to 85.50. The US Dollar Index was up 0.33% at 100.59.
