Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Metals & Mining, Resources and Gold sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.09% to hit a new 3-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH), which rose 6.60% or 5.220 points to trade at 84.370 at the close. UGL Ltd (ASX:UGL) added 5.83% or 0.130 points to end at 2.360 and Transpacific Industries Group Ltd (ASX:TPI) was up 5.11% or 0.035 points to 0.720 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cardno Ltd (ASX:CDD), which lost 27.33% or 0.940 points to trade at 2.500 in late trade. Arrium Ltd (ASX:ARI) declined 8.33% or 0.015 points to end at 0.165 and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) shed 6.76% or 0.150 points to 2.070.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 514 to 508 and 169 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 down 3.35% to 17.412.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.13% or 1.60 to $1205.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.66% or 0.39 to hit $58.38 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.74% or 0.47 to trade at $64.50 a barrel.
AUD/USD was down 0.27% to 0.7893, while AUD/JPY fell 0.01% to 95.50.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.44% at 95.79.