Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.57%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms Services, Industrials and Consumer Discretionary sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.57%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN), which rose 3.32% or 0.04 points to trade at 1.25 at the close. Meanwhile, Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) added 3.16% or 0.03 points to end at 0.98 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was up 3.11% or 0.15 points to 4.97 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), which fell 13.51% or 0.35 points to trade at 2.24 at the close. EML Payments Ltd (ASX:EML) declined 4.29% or 0.03 points to end at 0.67 and Brambles Ltd (ASX:BXB) was down 3.47% or 0.68 points to 18.92.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 681 to 379 and 478 ended unchanged.

Shares in Perenti Global Ltd (ASX:PRN) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 3.32% or 0.04 to 1.25. Shares in Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) rose to 52-week highs; rising 3.16% or 0.03 to 0.98.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 2.99% to 11.02.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.31% or 8.25 to $2,639.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.04% or 0.03 to hit $69.21 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.08% or 0.06 to trade at $73.25 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.12% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY rose 0.14% to 101.17.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 106.21.