Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.60% By Investing.com

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

At the close in Sydney, the lost 0.60%.

The best performers of the session on the were Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (ASX:), which rose 8.46% or 2.58 points to trade at 33.08 at the close. Meanwhile, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:) added 6.44% or 0.52 points to end at 8.60 and Boral Ltd. (ASX:) was up 4.53% or 0.310 points to 7.160 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:), which fell 5.27% or 2.96 points to trade at 53.20 at the close. Flight Centre Ltd (ASX:) declined 3.52% or 0.55 points to end at 15.06 and Invocare Ltd (ASX:) was down 3.11% or 0.36 points to 11.23.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 755 to 609 and 392 ended unchanged.

Shares in Boral Ltd. (ASX:) rose to 3-years highs; up 4.53% or 0.310 to 7.160.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 4.03% to 11.537.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.33% or 5.85 to $1783.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.48% or 0.35 to hit $73.20 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.44 to trade at $75.25 a barrel.

AUD/USD was down 0.03% to 0.7551, while AUD/JPY rose 0.18% to 83.72.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 91.745.